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THE 




cThe: Rock of Aoes:^ 



By Rev. ROBERT BOYD, B.D. 

WITH BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR, BY REV. C. L. THOMPSON, D.D. 



Which HOPE tee hare as an anchor of the sovl, both sure and steadfast." — Pattl. 
" Lead me to the kock that is higher than /." — David 



CHICAGO 




DEC 221831. 
s^o...7.fi.^.J..?rv- 



P WASH 



Western Union Publishing House, 45 La Salle St. 

kirsch & theuer, cleveland, ohio. 

I SSi . 



f 






COFTBIGHT, 1881. 

Bt Wm. HUELSTER and A. KNOBEL 

ALL EIGHTS KESEKVED. 



PRINTED BT 

OTTAWAY & COMPANY, 
64 & 56 Franklin Street, Chicaga. 



6? 



Oo 



DEDICATION 



TO MY WIFE: 

For neai'ly thirty years the loved and loving companion of 
my life; my faithful helper and co-worker i?i the healthy^ active ^ 
and happy years of ?ny public ministry; my constant^ patient^ and 
affectionate nurse in the years of my trial and suffering; and my 
always sympathizing and true-hearted wife^ — this book is dedicated 
hv her loving husband^ 

The Author. 



PREFACE 



In passing through life's journey, the people of God have often 
to sing with the poet Cowper, — 

"God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." 

And happy are they who have learned to trust their Heavenly 
Father where they cannot see him ; who can read his love in 
the most trying dispensations ; who do not judge Him by feeble 
sense, but who know that when he blesses he does so like a 
God, making the things that seemed all against us work for 
our good ; and so modifying the heat of the furnace of afflic- 
tion, that instead of consuming us, as we feared, it only con- 
sumes our dross. 

Hence there is nothing so wise, nothing so sweet for the 
Christian to do, as quietly to submit himself to the holy will of 
God. As a loving child puts his hand into his father's hand, 
and is led by him wherever he pleases, so should we trust our 
Father in heaven. He may lead us into a wilderness, or into a 
garden, by rough places or by smooth ; but it will be found to 
be the right way, while He is our guide. 

I have been led into these reflections by the sending forth 
of this new work from my pen, which opens the present volume. 
But a few years ago I was the pastor of a loving, faithful, and 
working church, in that most stirring and bustling city, Chicago. 
My congregation was large and attentive ; conversions were 
frequent and numerous ; I was happy in my work, and my time 



PREFACE. 

occupied with it from morning to night. I had no time to 
write for the public, and never expected to be the author of 
books, but God laid his afflicting hand upon me, and paralysis 
left me almost as helpless as a child. Oh, it was a dark and 
trying day when I had to leave my loved work, and bid fare- 
well to my dear people ! 

Determined, to work as long as I could for my beloved Lord 
Jesus, I sent forth book after book which were well received by 
the Christian public. Soon communications began to reach me 
of the good they were doing. From the crowded city and the 
quiet village ; from our patriot soldiers on the tented field, and 
from the hospitals filled with the wounded ; from the pastors of 
churches, and teachers of Sabbath Schools, came frequent ac- 
counts of conversions through my writings. I now began to 
have a glimpse of the reason why God afflicted me. I found 
that I was addressing a much larger audience than I had ever 
done before, and that my affliction, so far from hindering, had 
greatly increased my usefulness. This was a great comfort to 
me, and caused the song of gratitude to God to ring out of the 
dark night of my trouble. The master had led me in a way 
that I knew not, and to Him I gave all the glory. 

In conclusion, I wish the publishers of this, my latest and 
largest work, great success in sending forth this book on the 
great errand of preaching Christ; and I earnestly ask the 
prayers of the Christian reader, that the same may be abun- 
dantly blessed in leading souls to Jesus, the "World's Hope, ' 
and to build the fabric of their trust for eternity upon the 
"EocK OF Ages." 

R. B. 



PART I. 



The Trials and Triumphs of Faith. 

CONTENTS. 

Page 

I. Abel — An Accepted Worshiper 15 

II. Enoch — The Heavenly Walk 26 

III. Noah — A Preacher of Righteousness .39 

IV. Abraham — The Friend of God 53 

V.' Isaac — The Child of Promise 69 

VI. Jacob — The Prevailer with God .82 

VII. Joseph — An Example to Young Men. 98 

VIII. Moses — The Man of God 113 

IX. Moses — The Man of God. (Continued.) 126 

X. Moses — On Mount Sinai 140 

XI. Moses — On Mount Pisgah 155 

XII. Joshua — The Pious Soldier. 166 

XIII. Job — The Patient Sufferer 182 

XIV. Samuel — The Consecrated to God. 199 

XV. David — The Royal Prophet 215 

XVI. David — The Royal Prophet. ( Continued.)... 2 t,^ 

XVII. Elijah — The Tishbite 245 

XVIII. Elisha — The Prophet of the Succession 262 

XIX. Daniel — The Prophet of the Court .280 

XX. Stephen — The First Christian Martyr 300 

XXI. Peter — The Apostle 314 

XXII. John — The" Apostle and Evangelist .329 

XXIII. Paul — The Apostle of the Gentiles 342 

XXIV. Paul — The Apostle. (Continued.) 356 



PART II. 



NONE BUT CHRIST. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

I. The Great Deliverance, i Cor. v : 7 377 

II. The True Refuge. Num. xxxv : 12 389 

III. The Jubilee. Lev. xxv : 11 402 

IV. Law and Gospel. John i : 17 416 

V. The Dying Words of Jesus. John xix : 30 --428 

VI. Lessons from the Great Teacher 4^5 

A Blind Leader. 

NicoDEMUs Astonished. 

Variety of the Spirit's Work. 

Assurance of Salvation. 

A Saving Look. 

God's Great Love. 

Justified or Condemned. 

Loving Darkness and Hating Light. 

Coming to the Light. 
VII. Precious Truths for Perishing Sinners 485 

The Lost Sheep. 

The Lost Coin. 

The Prodigal Son. 

Joy in the Presence of the Angels. 
VIII. Prayer Through Christ. Johnxiv: 13 518 



CONTENTS. 

Paok. 

IX. The Christian's Motto. Phil i: 21 531 

To Live is Christ. 

To Die is Gain. 

X. Christ's Gracious Time. 2 Cor. vi : 2 544 

XI. The Blessed Remembrance. Lukexxii: 19. ..562 
XII. The Friendship of Christ. Matt, xii : ko ....574 

XIII. Christ Succoring the Tempted. Heb. ii : 18. 588 

XIV. Parting Words of Counsel 602 



PART III. 



aLAi3 TiDiisras 



CONTENTS 



I. Glad Tidings 611 

II. Immanuel, God with us 617 

III. Sinai and Calvary 622 

IV. The Spirit Striving .627 

V. Saving Faith... 633 

VI. Obscuring Clouds 639 

VII. Mighty TO Save ---645 

VIII. Peace with God 6^2 

IX. The Thirsty Invited,... 658 

X. The New Creature 5^^ 

XL Working for Jesus. ^y- 

XII. Thit- Gospel Feast ---6S^ 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Paok' 

I. The Flood 38 

11. Abraham Preparing TO Offer UP Isaac. . 54: 

III. Hebroj^ Q^ 

TV. Joseph's Dream 98 

V. Moses Before Pharaoh's Daughter 114 

VI. The Miraculous Fire 122 

VII. Departure of Israel 130 

VIII. The Destruction^ of Pharaoh and His 

Hosts * 138 

IX. The Encampment of Israel 146 

X. Moses on Mount Pisgah 162 

XI. The Furniture of the Tabernacle 170 

XII. Rahab Concealing the Spies 186 

XIIL Samuel Before the Lord 202 

XIV. Ruth Gathering in the Fields 210 

XV. David Playing Before Saul. 226 

XVI. Elijah Casting His Mantle on Elisha.. 266 

XVII. Daniel and His Companions Before Neb- 

UCADNEZZAR 282 

XVIII. The Captive Maiden. 290 

XIX. Daniel Interpreting the Handwriting. 298 

XX. Samaria and Mount Gerizim 314 

XXI. Plains of Jericho 338 

XXII. Paul and Barnabas at Antioch. 354 

XXril. Paul Before the Council 370 

XXIV. Jesus the King 378 

XXV. A City of Refuge 392 

XXVI. Symbol of the New Dispensation 400 

XXVII. Jesus in the Temple with the Doctors. . . 416 

XXVIII. It is Finished 432 

XXIX. The Temptation of Jesus 448 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



XXX. The Royal Ride Into Jerusalem 464 

XXXI. The Parable of the Lost Sheep 490 

XXXII. The Parable of the Talents 498 

XXXIII. The Miracle at Nain 522 

XXXIV. Sitting Under the Vine 540 

XXXV. Jesus Healing the Blind 548 

XXXVI. The Betrayal of Jesus 564 

XXXVII. Mary aj^d Martha 572 

XXXVIIL The Mount of Olives 628 

XXXIX. The Ascension 652 

XL. The River of Life 698 



Biographical Sketch. 



BY CHARLES L. THOMPSON, D.D. 



The Rev. Robert Boyd, D.D., was born in Girvan, Ayr- 
shire, Scotland, on the 24th day of August, 1816. His parents 
were devout and strict members of the Scottish Kirk. Their 
home was by the sea-shore, the beauty and grandeur of whicli 
made impressions on the mind of the boy, which were never 
effaced during the life of the man. In his autobiographic 
notes (from which largely the materials of this sketch have 
been drawn) he speaks thus of that early home : 

" In front of the house was the great ocean, with only a 
grass-park between us and the beach. We could see the ships 
passing in great numbers almost every day going to and com- 
ing from the port of Greenock. Our house was at the end of 
the town, and behind it were cultivated fields, sloping away 
to high hills that seemed to be leaning against the sky. To 
climb those hills and lie down alone among the heather and 
gaze off upon the ocean stretching away till it seemed to meet 
the embrace of the bending sky, was one of my highest 
pleasures." 

His thoughts were, from his very infancy, turned to the sub- 
ject of religion. His father was an influential man in the 
Church, whose house was the resort of ministers and elders 
and other pious people. It was the boy's delight to sit by the 
fire of an evening, and listen to the conversations and discus- 
sions about religious truth and points of doctrine ; and while 
much of these discussions sailed far above his head, profound 
impressions were thus early made upon his mind. The dawn 
of religious thoughts and feelings is thus referred to : 

" As far back as my memory can go I had serious thoughts 



iv BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

of God and Eteri^ity. One evening, in the calm twilight of 
the summer-time, x was lying on the grass in front of our 
house, gazing up into the dusky sky, when I began to see one 
star after another come out, and all at once a guilty dread of 
God took hold upon me. I felt as if the powerful arm of 
Jehovah was just about to be stretched out through the 
heavens to arrest me for the sins I had committed. I fled into 
the house in a perfect panic of fear and burying my head in 
my mother's lap, asked her to pray for me. I was five or six 
years of age at this time, and my dear mother, was deeply 
affected by my words, having the general impression that for a 
child to show such feeling on the subject of religion was a sure 
proof that he was soon to die." 

His religious education, as was the habit of the Scottish 
families of that day, was carefully attended to. ' He was 
taught to pray night and morning, to repeat the shorter 
catechism from beginning to end, to commit to memory Psalms 
and whole chapters of the Word of God. He also read many 
religious works with avidity, among which he mentions Pil- 
grim's Progress as having been a source of peculiar de- 
light. 

When about twelve years of age, the family removed to 
Glasgow. To leave his seaside home, and to exchange it for 
the noise and smoke and dust of a crowded city, was " the 
first great sorrow of his life." But for the beauty of nature he 
was now to have the better educational advantages of the city. 
The first part of that education was, however, perilous and 
was only by the grace of God prevented from being fatal. He 
fell in with reckless companions, who under plausible and at- 
tractive appearances hid corrupt lives and wicked hearts. His 
feet had well nigh slipped. The serious and pious thoughts 
of his early home took wing and fled away. The very form 
of prayer was neglected, the house of God was irregularly 
visited, the Sabbath was spent in rambles of pleasure, and as 
he expresses it, he was on the way to destruction with fearful 
rapidity. But God had a great work for him to do, and so in His 
great mercy interposed in his behalf and delivered him from 



' * HIS UNITING WITH THE CHURCH. y 

the snare to which he was hastening. The account of the 
change is given in his own words : 

" When about fifteen years of age I went to hear an elo- 
quent minister from England, who was preaching in John 
Street. His preaching was different from any thing I had ever 
heard. It was plain and pointed. It grappled close with the 
conscience, and best of all was full of Christ. It was so en- 
tirely new that my attention was arrested from the first sen- 
tence he uttered, and the Spirit of God carried the truth with 
power to my heart. I sought an interview with Mr. Ellensworth 
at the close of the service, and on subsequent occasions ; and I 
trust was led to yield my heart up to Jesus. It is true I had 
but very imperfect conceptions of the plan of mercy, I lived 
much upon my own feelings and spent many very unprofitable 
hours in analyzing my emotions and trying to find comfort 
from looking inward at my own heart, instead of outward at 
Jesus. I had many seasons of discouragement when my feel- 
ings were not so warm and ardent as I thought they should be, 
when engaged in the Lord's service. Satan often tempted me 
to give up, for that I would surely bring a reproach on the 
cause of truth. I should have answered him as Catharine 
Bretterge did, when much tempted by the enemy, ' Reason not 
with me, I am but a weak woman, if thou hast any thing to 
say, say it to my Christ, he is my Advocate, my Strength and 
my Redeemer, and he shall plead for me.' " 

He at once united with the Church, cut loose from his evil 
associates, found better company in a band of warm-hearted 
young Christians in the Church, and engaged actively with 
them in Christian service. He had not, however, attempted 
to speak or pray in public. His lips were opened in a singu- 
lar way. He attended a debating school, at which one even- 
ing the Divinity of Christ was the subject under consideration. 
When he heard Jesus called a mere man, and remarks made 
derogatory to his glorious character, he found himself sud- 
denly upon his feet, addressing the chairman. He was in a 
condition of absolute fright and panic when he realized his 
position and would gladly have retreated from the hundreds of 



VI BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

eyes that were fixed upon the boy. His extreme embarrass- 
ment roused the mirth of some who were near him, and that in 
its turn aroused the speaker, who went on earnestly and im- 
petuously, though of course crudely to plead the Divinity of 
Christ. Perhaps that might be called his first sermon. From 
that time on he was prompt to take his part, as best as he 
could, in prayer-meetings, Sabbath- schools and mission sta- 
tions. For some time he had been engaged in the double 
work of a student and teacher, attending classes during a part 
of the day and teaching during the remainder. A long sick- 
ness soon put an end to his student life. His recovery was 
slow, during which he read a large number of the works of the 
old divines — Erskine, Boston, Flavel, Baxter, Bunyan, Cameron, 
and others. The marks of that course of reading were im- 
pressed on his future life. The fruits of it appeared constantly 
in his preaching. He was a fuller, stronger, devouter man for 
that prolonged communion with the old masters in the days of 
his youth. 

He now began to look forward to the life work to which his 
parents had early dedicated him, and which he had gladly 
chosen for himself — that of a minister of the Gospel. But 
there was severe discipline ahead of him before this hope 
could be realized. His father, a man of great strength of 
body, suddenly sickened and died. Robert was now throw^ 
upon his own resources. His studies had to be given up, and 
he must needs seek some employment to meet the new respon- 
sibilities that were thrown upon him. The Temperance cause 
was then just beginning to attract attention. A Society had 
been formed in Glasgow, with Robert Kettle at its head, and 
this Society engaged him to go out through Scotland plead-, 
ing their cause and establishing Temperance Societies. Prop- 
erly accredited and full of enthusiasm he started out on his 
work. It was no easy mission. The Temperance cause was a 
new thing. Total Abstinence was regarded as a suspicious 
asceticism. The ministers for the most part stcod aloof, or 
actively opposed it, many of the office bearers of the Church were 
engaged in the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks, and 



DR. BOYD AS A TEMPERANCE LECTURER. vil 

the places of worship were often closed against the lecturer. 
Against these obstacles the youthful temperance advocate had 
to urge his way. Pie went from village to village — often on 
foot — held meetings every evening, often in the open air — and 
was the means of awakening an extensive and new interest in 
the cause. The Glasgow Committee were so well pleased with 
the results of his tour through Scotland, they sent him to Ireland 
in response to an earnest request from Irish Temperance So- 
cieties that a lecturer be sent them; and in the "green-isle" 
he also carried on a most aggressive and successful campaign.. 
The Irish dignitaries were a little indignant at first that the^ 
Glasgow Committee should have sent a "mere boy" to them, 
but after the first meeting in Belfast they were quite content,, 
and gave him through all his tour the heartiest of hearty Irish 
co-operation. The interest thus expressed and deepened in 
the Temperance work was never, through his life, absent from 
his heart, and was a conscious feature of his entire ministry. 

After his return from Ireland he was engaged for a while 
in attending to his father's affairs and in doing city missionary 
work, as opportunity offered. This mission work was a great 
delight to him, and his fondness for anecdote and aptitude at 
illustration gave him ready access to the degraded population 
of the' city. In the early part of 1839 he was induced by his 
Temperance friends to make a tour through the eastern part of 
Scotland, presenting his favorite theme. At this time we find 
him lecturing during the week and preaching on the Sabbath. 
Thus he passed through Kylsith (where a wonderful revival 
was then in progress), Falkirk, Bannockburn, Stirling and. 
Doune. In the latter place his preaching on the Sabbath and 
during the week was blessed to a great awakening of the peo- 
ple. Many inquirers were seeking the way of life. He felt 
called to linger, there and conduct the work thus providentially 
opened. For five or six months he was " abundant in labors," 
preaching, holding prayer meetings and visiting from house to 
house. One Sabbath after preaching he was invited by a 
farmer living a few miles from Doune to visit his neighbor- 
hood and hold service on some evening during the week. He 



Viii BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

did so, and on retiring to his room, at the farmer's house, he 
found a book upon the table on " The Apostolic Commission," 
written by Rev. A. McLean, pastor of the ist Baptist Church 
of Edinburgh. He turned to the chapter on Baptism"; It was 
the beginning of an examination into the subject, which, after 
a number of days resulted in his believing that the principles 
and practices of Baptists were in closest accord with the Bible, 
and in his making application to the Baptist Church at Stirling 
to be received as a member. On the Sabbath following his 
application, he was to preach in the morning and be baptized 
In the afternoon. Going to Stirling on Friday he found the 
people in great distress, for the pastor of the Church had sud- 
denly died the night before. Mr. Boyd supplied the pulpit for 
a few Sabbaths, when he was called to the pastorate, ordained 
to the solemn work of the ministry and installed as pastor of 
the Stirling Church. The Church was small, and moreover, 
divided over some Church quarrel. The first day he preached 
as pastor he was discouraged by the smallness of the audience. 
He resolved that there should be a different state of affairs in 
the evening. Accordingly, a little before time for service he 
took his stand at the center of the city, where several streets 
meet, and preaching there to within a few minutes of the time 
for the church service, he gave an invitation to all to follow 
him to the Baptist church. The place was crowded, and from 
that time on he had large congregations. By his prudent 
course internal dissensions, which had threatened the very life 
of the Church, were healed, and the Church grew by frequent 
conversions from the world. 

Soon after his settling in Stirling, a Congregational minister 
came from Edinburgh to conduct a series of revival services. 
These meetings were blessed, not only in the conversion of 
souls, but in giving Christians clearer views of the fulness 
there is in Christ. Of this preaching Dr. Boyd says : 

" It was to me like a new life, I had up to this time been 
living a good deal by my own frames and feelings — happy 
when I looked at Jesus — full of tormenting doubts when I 
looked at my own heart. I now saw Jesus as a perfect Savior; 



HIS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCK. IX 

that as the Lamb of God he had taken away my sins for ever, 
and that trusting alone in my gracious substitute I was per- 
fectly justified before God and the law had nothing against me, 
all its claims having been satisfied. I now preached more of 
Christ than ever before. I did not like to preach a single ser- 
mon without explaining how a sinner can be saved. My heart 
condemned me if I did. I resolved to dedicate my life to 
holding up the Cross, and to telling my fellow-men the glad 
tidings that now thrilled my own heart. I have aimed at 
carrying out this purpose, but alas, how imperfectly has it been 
done." 

These early religious experiences have thus been dwelt 
upon, because in them is the key to the success of his ministry. 
Those who knew him in his preaching, or his writings, can 
not fail to have noticed his singularly clear conception of the 
plan of salvation, and the unceasing fidelity with which he 
made it the center and circumference of all his sermons and 
his books. 

On the 6th day of April, 1840, he was united in marriage to 
]\Iiss Christina Forbes, and at once they set up their house at 
St. Ninians, a suburb of Stirling. His wife was like-minded 
with himself in the love and labors of the Gospel, his faithful 
friend and constant helper in the days of his activity, and his 
unwearied nurse and cheerful companion in the days of his 
suffering and waiting. 

His ministry in Stirling was both a busy and successful 
one. He found special call there also for his temperance zeal. 
The Churches were so mixed up with the traffic in intoxicating 
liquors as to be the chief hindrances to the temperance cause. 
His own Church took advanced and decided ground, and their 
temperance activity was felt throughout the city. The pastor's 
work constantly overflowed the boundaries of his own congre- 
gation. Preaching stations were established at five or six 
points in various directions, over which he kept general super- 
vision, and to which he sent lay members of the Church to 
teach and preach. One of these stations was at Castle Hill, 
the "Five Points " of Stirling. The people were visited from 



X BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

house to house and encouraged to go to the place of the meet- 
ing. At first only a few degraded ones came to the door, and 
it looked as though the mission were likely to be a failure. 
But in answer to special prayer offered by the Church for that 
station, a great change took place. The hall was crowded, 
hard hearts were broken, and many sinners converted. About 
this time Mr, Boyd undertook a somewhat extensive evangel- 
istic tour through towns and villages around Edinburgh. But 
the strain of these multiplied labors began to tell upon his 
health. Nervous days and sleepless nights, the beginning of 
years of discouragement and suffering, pressed upon his atten- 
tion the necessity for rest. In company with his beloved friend 
and deacon, John Robertson, he went first to the seashore, and 
afterward to Edinburgh and other places, in the hope of fully 
regaining his health ; but it continued to decline. His mind 
was turned to America. A sea voyage, it was thought, would 
be greatly beneficial. The decision was soon reached. He 
resigned his Church and made ready for his journey. The 
parting was full of pain. Strong affection bound him to his 
people, and ardent devotion held him to a work which 
seemed but fairly begun, and had to be surrendered. He 
says : 

" On the fourth day of August, 1843, we took an early de- 
parture from Stirling, looking with indescribable feelings upon 
each familiar spot, till the spires of the churches, the battle- 
ments of the old Castle, faded from our sight. We had many 
friends to part from, and also a dear little grave containing the 
precious remains of our second child. We knew that dear 
Christina, our sweet little flower, was blooming in Heaven; but 
nature demanded the tribute of tears. Mary, our oldest, we 
had with us, to cheer us by her prattle, but too young to 
form any idea of the vast results depending on the change we 
were now making. At Glasgow we were detained for a few 
days, and on the tenth of August we set sail in the Margaret 
Paynter for Montreal. It was a day of solemn feeling to me 
as we passed along the river and at last plunged forth into the 
expanding ocean. Night began to gather her dark curtain 



HIS VOYAGE TO AMERICA. Xl 

around us, and, gazing through the fast-copiing gloom, we bade 
our native land farewell." 

The seclusion of the long sea voyage gave opportunity for 
meditation and seeking a new preparation for the work that lay 
before him. His journal for that time indicates the close com- 
munion with God during those days, and the great longing 
which filled him that he might live more and more to the 
Divine Glory. During that voyage he made a covenant with 
the Lord, and recorded it in his journal. It is as follows : 

"September 4th. I desire here, while upon the great deep 
and before reaching the land where, if spared, I mean to de- 
vote myself to God's work, solemnly to make the following 
covenant with my Heavenly Father : 

" Oh, my God! I had sold myself to sin and was enslaved 
by Satan and the present evil world. Thou hast redeemed me 
and at Thy footstool I bow myself in love and gratitude. 
Other lords have had dominion over me, but from henceforth 
I desire to be called only by Thy name. Whatever Thou 
choosest me to be, to have, to want, to do, or to suffer, I cheer- 
fully acquiesce in Thy wise and righteous appointment. Oh, 
instruct me to know Thy will, and assist me to do it. Oh, my 
Father! I join myself to Thee, in a perpetual covenant, never, 
I trust, to be forgotten. I had rather be a door-keeper in Thy 
house, oh, my God! than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. 
Let me but feel Thy supporting hand, hear Thy gracious voice 
and see Thy smiling countenance, and I can go on my way 
rejoicing. Oh, thou Prince of Life ! receive a poor worthless 
sinner. Thou only art my Master, my Guide, my Deliverer, 
my Portion ! May I never — no, never — deny or dishonor 
Thee. Take Thou possession of my soul; turn out every 
rival, and reign over all my affections with undisputed author- 
ity.' 

On the 25 th of September they landed at Montreal. They 
were met and cordially received by the pastor of the Baptist 
Church and other Christian friends, and the way for work was 
promptly opened to the zealous young minister. Thomas 
Smart, Esq., of Brockville, was at that time in Montreal, who 



Xii BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

suggested to Mr. Boyd that he accompany him home, especially- 
as a Baptist Association was to meet near Brockville that week. 
The invitation was accepted, and Mr Boyd soon found himself 
in the presence of the Association at Augusta. He describes 
it as composed of ministers, for the most part without educa- 
tion, but full of zeal and self-denying labors. He was at once 
invited to preach, and then as promptly engaged as a mission- 
ary among the weak Churches, and to carry the Gospel into, 
the most destitute parts of the country. This was just what he 
wanted. He had great delight in laying foundations and build- 
ing up new Churches — to use his own words, " instead of look- 
ing for a place, to make one." 

For a time the little family began housekeeping at Farmers- 
ville, a village central to his work. The people among whom 
their lot was thus cast were poor, and living in primitive ways; 
but they were kind and hospitable beyond measure. But the 
missionary life was not to be long continued. 

Brockville, on the St. Lawrence, had no Baptist Church. 
Mr. Boyd preached there on a certain Sabbath, and again on 
the following evening. So marked were the signs of deep 
spiritual interest it was resolved to go on with a series of spe- 
cial services. For months the revival went on with great power 
and many souls were converted. A council was called and a 
Church organized. Mr. Boyd received and accepted a call ta 
become the pastor. During the Winter of 1844 the services 
were held in the old court house, which soon became too small 
for the rapidly increasing congregation. During the Summer 
services were held in the open air, in a grove on the banks of 
the river. In these services a new class of hearers was. 
reached, those who had never gone into a church, hovered at 
first around the edges of these out-door congregations, and in 
many cases were convicted by the Spirit and brought into the 
fellowship of the Church. In the Fall a stone church was 
erected, and on the 27th of October it was dedicated to the 
worship of God. Early in his ministry in Brockville he be- 
gan that overflow missionary labor, which had made his work 
so successful in Stirling. 



HIS MISSIONARY WORK, 



xui 



Preaching stations were opened in different directions, 
and on week-day evenings he gathered the people in them to 
hear the message of the Gospel. These multiplied labors, 
however, were telling upon his physical strength. He records 
his conviction of their unwisdom, and in his late years looked 
back on his course in this respect with profound regret. The 
excessive drain upon his strength was further increased by 
missionary tours into remote districts, which, however good in 
their results, were costing the young minister too severely, by 
shortening the years of his service. Yet who shall say, that in 
the higher measurements of heaven, those swift, intense years 
were not every way better than slower years in more barren 
labors dragged out to man's fullest limit of days ? For eternity, 
doubtless, will gather vast results from those journeys. Revi- 
vals in Breadalbane, Augusta, Farmersville and other places 
were the manifest tokens of Divine favor — the satisfying Divine 
reward. In one of those revivals, in a community largely 
given to Universalism, there occurred the remarkable conver- 
sion of the leading hotel-keeper, himself a Universalist. Mr. 
Boyd says : 

'' He showed a good deal of skill and plausibility in 
advocating his views. Being a young man himself he had 
great influence over the young. He attended night after nighty 
showing much solemn attention. One night I went home with 
him, having learned he had expressed a wish that I would do 
so. The next evening he stood up and asked the prayers of 
God's people, and then came a rush of young men, whom he 
had been keeping back. Oh, how much evil one sinner can 
do ! The next morning he went into his bar-room and his 
customers began to gather in, but he shrank with horror from 
the idea of selling them any more liquor. He felt that, as a 
Christian man, he could not do it. He had his barrels rolled 
out into the street, and giving me an axe, requested me to spill 
their contents into the gutter. It was done, and I addressed a 
large crowd assembled to see the strange sight. I then an- 
nounced a prayer-meeting for the evening in the ball-room, 
where so much evil had been done in former times. Oh, how 



xiv BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

solemn that meeting was ! Surely none there can ever forget 
it. The result of this meeting was very good over all that 
region of country.- It gave moral laborers a new encourage- 
ment in their work of reform, and especially did it magnify and 
honor in the sight of all the power of prayer. A large number 
were added to the Church, including young and old. Back- 
sliders also were restored, and , a general quickening into life 
was manifested by all religious people." 

After a pastorate of nearly seven years in Brockville Mr. 
Boyd was called to the Baptist Church in London, Upper 
Canada, a call which, on consideration, he concluded it his 
duty to accept. He began his work in London in October, 
1849. The Church at that time had no place of worship' of 
its own; but were holding services in an old Methodist church. 
During the first Winter they were blessed with a gracious 
revival of religion. A large number of young men were con- 
verted, and the Church was greatly strengthened. In the 
Spring the old church having become too small, and withal, 
insecure, steps were taken to erect a new house of worship. 
They entered it just one year from the day Mr. Boyd began 
his ministry in London. Prosperity attended the Church — 
inquiry meetings (which it was the habit of Mr. Boyd to hold 
every Monday evening) were well attended, and conversions 
were frequent. Things thus went on for nearly five years ; 
each year filled up with abounding labors, in the pulpit, in the 
temperance work, on the platform for various benevolent causes, 
and in visitation from house to house. In the early part of 
1854 the spinal disease from which he had suffered in Scotland 
returned with an increase of painful symptoms warning, but 
too plainly, that the overtaxed energies must have rest. At 
this time a proposal came to hand from the Baptist Church in 
Hamilton. They would be contented with one sermon a day, 
he could be relieved from the pressure of all extra work, and 
it was hoped this partial rest would be sufficient to work the 
restoration of his health. So, amid many expressions of affec- 
tion and regret, he sundered the ties that bound him to the 
people of London, and removed to Hamilton. But the experi- 



HIS FAILING HEALTH. XV 

jnent proved a failure. His health was steadily failing, and 
after remaining there till November, he took his family and re- 
moved to Waterville, Waukesha Co., Wis., his medical advisers 
telling him that he must take at least a year's rest from all 
mental labor. Mrs. Boyd's father had died a short time before, 
and left them a small farm, which was just the refuge that was 
needed at the time. The following extract from a letter ac- 
quainting a friend with their arrival at their new home, gives 
an insight into the darkness of that day : 

" The cars left us at a small way station, late at night, and 
as I stood there, surrounded with my family and my trunks, 
and remembered that I was so far from my dear friends in 
Canada, whom perhaps I was never to see again, and that I 
was laid aside from my loved work of preaching the Gospel, it 
might be never to be able to resume it again, there came over 
my mind such a dark cloud of depression as I never felt before. 
It was not a feeling of common regret or sorrow that often finds 
relief in tears, but a black horror that can not be put into 
words. I prayed for deliverance from the temptation, for such 
it doubtless was, and knew something of the experience of the 
Psalmist when he said, ' Lord, from the depths to Thee I 
•cried.'" 

For about ten months he had entire rest. It could hardly 
be said he enjoyed it, for imperatively needed as the rest was, 
his enjoyment was always found in his work. The Baptist 
-Church in Waukesha, Wis., being vacant, invited him to preach 
for then;. It being only about ten miles from his farm, he 
would drive in on Saturday evening, preach on Sabbath, and 
go back again on Monday. But when the Winter came, even 
•this partial rest was exchanged for the full labors of the pas- 
torate. 

He removed his family to Waukesha that he might give 
himself fully to the service of a Church, which, having been 
torn asunder by difficulties of long standing, was in peculiar 
need of pastoral counsel and care. His brief ministry there 
was greatly blessed to the healing of strife and the strengthen- 
ing of the congregation. His health also improved, and 



Xvi BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

he was happy again in the glorious privileges of preaching 
the Gospel: 

In the Spring of 1856 he made a visit to some friends in 
Chicago, preaching on the Sabbath in the ist Baptist church. 
A number of members of this Church had for some time con- 
templated the organization of a new Church in the southern 
part of the rapidly growing city ; and so impressed were they 
with Mr. Boyd's preaching, they felt if he could be secured to 
lead the new enterprise the time was ripe for its inauguration. 
Accordingly a meeting was called, a Church organized, and a 
committee appointed to secure a lot and funds for the erection 
of a building, and a call made out for the services of Mr. Boyd» 
With genuine Chicago spirit a lot was bought on the very next 
morning, and in a few days the money was raised for a suitable 
building. In the early part of September Mr. Boyd moved to 
Chicago, and began his work with meetings for prayer in the 
lecture room, the audience room being not yet completed. At 
the very first meeting prayer was asked for one inquiring soul. 
The church was dedicated on the first Sabbath of October, with 
very impressive services, in the presence of a congregation that 
completely filled the house, and in the afternoon of that day 
an incident occurred very encouraging to the pastor. It is 
given in his own words : 

" A gentleman called to see me, who had been led to see 
himself a sinner under the forenoon sermon. That night he 
found peace in believing, and became a consistent member of 
the Church till the day of his death. This token for good 
strengthened my faith, and led me to go forward in seeking to 
have conversions all the time. I wanted to train this new 
Church to look for and pray for good being done under the 
common means of grace, at the same time that they kept pray- 
ing for and laboring for a revival. And in a great measure 
this was accomplished, for though we were favored with seve- 
ral powerful revivals, yet every month under the common 
means souls were converted and added to the Church during 
the whole of my pastorate of nearly eight years. God says, 
^According to thy faith be it done unto thee.' If we look for 



HIS PASTORATE IN CHICAGO. Xvii 

souls to be saved only when we have a protracted meeting we 
are casting dishonor on the ordinary means of Divine appoint- 
ment, and fixing upon the minds of men a most dangerous im- 
pression." 

Alluding to some of the discouragements of these days of 
small things in the young Church, he refers thus to the spirit 
of harmony and prayer that marked the little band : 

" But I hope I was driven to greater trust in God by these 
discouragements. I had attended only a few prayer-meetings 
when 1 found I had some noble praying people to hold up my 
hands. From the first we were blessed with wise, kind, ear- 
nest and faithful deacons. In all important matters these 
dear brethren not only consulted with me, but we poured out 
our souls together in prayer to God, and many an answer from 
heaven was obtained in my little study. We were all united 
in heart, all aiming at one object, and we had meetings we 
can never forget ; they were the very type of heaven itself. 
During the continuance of the financial panic we had large 
payments to make in order to sustain the honor of the Church. 
Often we did not know where the money was to come from, but 
we poured out our souls in prayer, and in a wonderful way the 
sum needed would be provided." 

In the Fall of 1857 the great revival that was spreading 
through the country visited Chicago with great power. Thou- 
sands flocked to the noon-day prayer-meetings at Metropolitan 
Hall, and great numbers were inquiring the way to Christ. 
Mr. Boyd took a very active interest in this work, and preached 
in his church on Sabbath evenings a course of sermons on the 
Plan of Salvation, which were largely attended and greatly 
blessed. Upon no subject was he so much at home, to none 
did he recur with such frequent — we might almost say, con- 
stant repetition and such unbounded delight. And it is the 
testimony of all who have heard him, that in this respect he 
Avas a prince among preachers. Very few men have possessed 
so clear a conception of the way to be saved, have realized its 
paramount importance so vividly, and have preached it with 
such simplicity, fervency and power. 



Xviii BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD, 

The interest in the congregation now became so great that 
meetings were held every evening for several months, and 
during part of the time a prayer- meeting every morning. Re- 
ferring to this time he says, " It was the happiest time of my 
life. The Spirit of God was so manifestly in the work, the 
cases of conversion were so marked and satisfactory, the Chris- 
tians were so active and spontaneous in their efforts to do good, 
and it seemed so easy and pleasant to preach, that it lives in 
my memory as the brightest spot in my ministry. As my days 
were occupied I did not have much time to study for these even- 
ing services. There was the morning prayer-meeting to attend, 
as also the noon meeting. The afternoon was spent in visiting. 
After tea I entered my study and read and meditated upon a 
porition of God's Word from which I would speak at the even- 
ing service for about twenty minutes. Then the brethren 
Would speak and pray, and the young converts bear testimony 
to the power of the Gospel, which was a powerful sermon in 
itself. We did not keep the meetings late, so that the people 
did not get worn out, and there was no unhealthy reaction. 
Oh, it was a glorious season of refreshing, and seemed like a 
' heaven on earth.' " 

Speaking of his labors at this time, he says : " My people 
were greatly scattered over the city, and visiting them was 
laborious, and took up a great deal of my time, but I was 
everywhere received with so much affection and so much did 
I see my dear people grow in grace and in a knowledge of the 
simplicity of Gospel truth that I was the happiest of men, and 
toil was a pleasure in their service. I loved my work, and did 
no.t wish to exchange it ; not for the highest and richest posi- 
tion within the gift of the world. I could enter into the feel- 
ings of the Rev. John Brown, of Haddington, when he said, ' I 
would gladly beg my bread for six days of the we^k rather than 
be denied the privilege of preaching the Gospel on the Sab- 
bath.' " 

But these joyful strains were soon to sink to a minor key. 
His excessive labors were paving the way for the bad symptoms 
he had previously felt, and which were now coming back in more 



SUCCESS IN HIS WORK IN CHICAGO. XIX 

serious and menacing forms. A weakness and trembling of 
the lower limbs warned him of coming paralysis. He kept on 
with his work for a time, but finally, under the advice of phy- 
sicians, consented to leave his flock for a few months and seek 
rest and medical treatment at the Water Cure near Cleveland. 
The three months spent there improved his general health, but 
the lameness continued and grew worse. He therefore returned 
to his home and resumed his labors as far as he was able. His 
pastoral work could be performed only with greatest difficulty. 
He preached with all his customary vigor and fire, but was 
subject to great exhaustion and suffering afterward. The 
Church continued to grow, and in 1861, under the pressure of 
the evident need of more room, it was resolved to remove far- 
ther south, and enlarge the building. A lot was selected on 
Wabash Avenue, at the corner of Eighteenth Street. The 
building was moved to it and enlarged and beautified, and was 
occupied by the rejoicing congregation in October, 1862. About 
this time the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on 
Mr. Boyd, by Shurtlefif College, at Alton, 111. 

In the early part of that Winter, there were such marked 
tokens of the presence of the Spirit among the people, a series, 
of special meetings was resolved upon, and, Dr. Boyd being 
now too feeble to bear the brunt of them himself, the well- 
known evangelist, Jacob Knapp, was secured for the work. A 
large number were added to the Church at this time, mostly 
young people. The membership was revived and roused to 
greater activity, and the attention of the people called to the 
new place of worship. The result was that the enlarged house 
was again well filled. 

At this time the Church was engaged in a broad diversity 
of labors. Their young people's meetings (to which the pas- 
tor gave special attention) were full of interest. A flourishing 
mission was sustained on Liberty Street, and much special mis- 
sion work was done among the thousands of Confederate pris- 
oners at that time confined in Camp Douglas Barracks. 

About this time a new field of influences was opened for 
Dr. Boyd. Unable on account of his increasing lameness to go 



XX BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

much from home, he began to use his pen in the public press. 
He became a regular contributor to what was then the " Chris- 
tian Ti/nes,'" now " The Standard.'" His contributions at once 
attracted attention. A series of articles on his favorite theme, 
The Plan of Salvation, were extensively copied and widely 
read. In the Spring of i860 he published a little book, called 
" Glad Tidings," which was warmly received and had an ex- 
tensive sale. It was becoming painfully evident to him now 
that his days of preaching were drawing to a close, and he 
hailed therefore with thankful delight the prospect of being 
able still to serve his master by the use of his pen. To him, 
sitting under the shadow of the great fear that at any day he 
might be disabled from ever again entering the pulpit, the 
news that now came to him of the blessing that little book was 
bringing to many hearts, was peculiarly comforting. Letters 
came from different parts of the country and from the lines of 
the army, bearing glad tidings of souls awakened or helped by 
reading the Gospel he had sent out through the press. Knowl- 
edge of this kind coming to him prompted him to give himself 
more fully to the work of writing the messages he would not 
much longer be able to speak. 

He, however, kept on preaching, but with increasing diffi- 
culty and distress. He now became so helpless that he could 
no longer stand up in the pulpit. A high chair was procured, 
and in this he was carried from the parsonage to^the pulpit, 
and, sitting in it, preached oftentimes with as much force and 
persuasive power as ever in his life ; for, by a gracious Provi- 
dence, the disease which was rendering his body helpless did 
not touch his mind. But in the Fall of 1863, his health had 
become so much impaired, and the paralysis in his lower limbs 
had so increased, he began to think of resigning his charge. 
This was probably the hardest step of his life ; but feeling that 
justice to the Church required that tliey should have a minis- 
ter who could do pastoral work, he sent in his resignation and 
preached his farewell sermon. Referring to this time, he says: 

" Those were the .darkest and most sorrowful days of my 
life. Before this, on several occasions, I had left Churches 



HIS FAREWELL SERMON. Xxi 

that I loved tenderly, dearly ; but it was to go to another field of 
labor that promised greater usefulness. But now I seemed to 
be taking farewell, not only of this dear Church, but of the 
ministry also ; for I never expected to be able to preach again. 
The Lord had brought me into a large field of usefulness, and 
now I was laid aside a poor helpless invalid, without means, 
and a large family dependent upon me. It was indeed a sol- 
emn and mysterious providence. I groped in darkness, and 
could see no light. I felt confident that God was with me, 
that He was my friend and would surely provide for me and 
mine. But His design in all this I could not comprehend. 
That it was all in love, I was well assured, and I felt that my 
duty at present was explained in the injunction: 'Be still, and 
know that I am God.'" 

The Christian Times referred to Dr. Boyd's farewell sermon 
as follows 

" The last Sabbath was a day of sad but surpassing inter- 
est at the Wabash Avenue Baptist Church. The pastor. Rev. 
Dr. Boyd, on that occasion severed his connection with the 
Church which for nearly eight years had enjoyed his ministry, 
and under that ministry had grown from fifteen to two hundred 
and sixty-three members. The event was evidently one of 
general interest to the citizens of Chicago, as we noticed in 
the crowded assembly numbers of persons who are not Bap- 
tists. In the course of the sermon Dr. Boyd alluded to the 
satisfaction he had found in his ministry. His references to 
his connection with the Wabash Avenue Church were very 
touching, and all felt them to be most true. There had been, 
he said, perfect harmony from the beginning between himself 
and the Church, and among the members. He had never had 
from any one of them an unkind word or even look. There 
had never been in a meeting of the Church a single angry 
utterance, a single jar. He had enjoyed all co-operation and 
support. He had had the tenderest sympathy in his bodily 
affliction, kindly allowance for all his infirmities, and consid- 
erate attention to all his wants. His salary had always been 
promptly paid on the day it was due. There were many in the 



XXll BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

audience who could have testified that this harmonious, united 
and efficient spirit in the Church had been largely cultivated 
through the pastor's own influence, both as felt in his eminent- 
ly spiritual oreaching and in his daily intercourse with his 
flock. 

" Feeling there was so much reason to regard his stated min- 
istry as finished, Dr. Boyd referred briefly to the twenty- seven 
years he had served as pastor, and to the results. He had 
preached in that time upwards of eleven thousand sermons,, 
besides numerous addresses and lectures. He had officiated 
at six hundred funerals, married five hundred persons, and 
baptized with his own hands eight hundred and sixty-nine. 
We think to these should be added those who during the last 
few years have received the ordinance at the hands of his 
brethren, though converted under his ministry. This would 
swell the number to over nine hundred. During his ministry 
in Chicago, four hundred members have been added to the 
Church, eleven hundred sermons have been preached, two hun- 
dred and twenty funerals attejided. and one hundred and sev- 
enty persons married by him." 

The Church adopted a series of resolutions expressing the 
deep sense of their loss, their sympathy with their pastor, their 
grateful appreciation of his work, and their assurances of con- 
tinued love. They also raised a subscription of three thous- 
and dollars as a substantial testimonial of their 'interest and 
afl"ection. 

In considering the place for a future home, it seemed best 
on several accounts that Waukesha should be chosen. Prepa- 
rations were therefore made for this removal. The last Sabbath 
spent in Chicago was most memorable. Dr. Boyd was carried 
into the church, and sat in front of the pulpit while the con- 
gregation passed in a long procession, bidding him farewell. 
There was not a dry eye in the house, and when the long fare- 
well was over, Dr. Boyd had to be taken to bed — quite over- 
powered with the tremendous strain upon his feelings. 

He went to Waukesha, little expecting that he would ever 
be able to enter a pulpit again. After several months of rest, 



PASTOR AT WAUKESHA, WIS. Xxiil 

he found his health so much improved that, on the Baptist 
Church being left without a pastor, he consented to preach for 
them once every Sabbath. Very few men in his condition 
would have thought themselves able to endure the fatigue and 
excitement of preaching ; but no suffering could abate his pas- 
sion for his work. Carried to his pulpit, and sitting in a chain 
he had the happiness of again proclaiming the glad tidings of 
the Gospel. The word was spoken in bodily weakness and 
pain, but with the old-time intellectual power and spiritual 
fervor. The congregations increased so much as to render an 
enlargement of the church necessary, and, in the Winter of 
1866-7, they enjoyed a gracious revival of religion, by which 
about forty persons were added to the Church. Many of the 
cases of conversion were of marked interest and displayed re- 
markably the great power of God. In the Summer of 1867 
a series of out-door union services were inaugurated in the 
village, for the purpose .of reaching the non-church-going 
people. Dr. Boyd preached the opening and closing sermons 
of the series, sitting in a buggy around which the audience was 
clustered. Never able to refuse an invitation to preach, on the 
7th of September, after preaching as usual in the morning, he 
acceded to an urgent call to go to Pewaukee, a village about 
six miles distant, and hold an open-air service in the afternoon. 
He preached to a large audience from the text, " What shall I 
do to be saved? " little thinking that he was preaching his last 
sermon. He preached with an unction and earnestness that 
coidd hardly have been deeper, had he known it to be his last 
spoken message. He rode home in the chill of the evening, 
caught a severe cold, and the next day was taken down with 
inflammation of the spine. For many days he hung between 
life and death. After a time the severe inflammation began to 
abate ; but his paralysis was so much increased as to confine 
him to his bed from that time onward. Finding he would 
never again be able to preach, he sent his resignation to the 
Church. The Church kindly refused to accept it, declaring it 
the unanimous wish of the Church " that he should live and 
die their trusted, honored and beloved pastor." 



Xxiv BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

Shortly after going to Waukesha, Dr. Boyd published an- 
other volume, entitled "None but Christ." It has had an ex- 
tensive circulation and been the means of leading many souls 
to Christ. The favor with which this book was received, en- 
couraged him to believe that, though laid aside from the 
ministry, he might still be useful with his pen. Writing was 
not easy work to one lying on a bed and suffering almost 
constant pain ; but he gave each forenoon to this work, writing 
with his own hand so long as it was not wholly helpless, and 
afterward by dictation to one of his daughters. He published 
in rapid succession three books for the young, entitled " Food 
for Lambs, " " Young Converts " and " Wee Willie." During 
his active ministry, he had great delight and great success in 
preaching to children. He never grew old. He never grew 
away from the sympathies of youth. He always held a warm 
place in that part of his audience where every wise pastor will 
seek for a place — in the affections of the children. His books 
to the young bore no marks of having been written by a sick 
man, save in the tenderness that pervaded them. They were 
full of hopeful and cheerful and buoyant views of life and 
duty, and were eagerly read and largely blessed. In the Spring 
of 1868, he published " Grace and Truth," a book upon the 
" old, old story," to which he always returned with fresh enthu- 
siasm and with steadily increasing force. 

He then began the preparation of " The Trials and Tri- 
umphs of Faith," the largest of his books, the fruit of his most 
mature powers, and which with " None but Christ," constitutes 
the volume now sent forth under the title of " The World's 
Hope." 

Dr. Boyd's journal at this time bears evidence of his great 
joy and gratitude in being permitted, though in great suffering, 
to prepare and send forth these printed messages of Gospel 
truth. Doubtless much of the fragrance and sweetness of the 
truth they contain are due to the pressure out of which they 
came. They are the utterance of a heart held severely and 
lovingly in God's hand. They came " out of the depths," and 
so have been to many thirsty souls as waters from deep wells. 



DR. BOYD AS A WRITER. XXV 

They were written by one whose clear perceptions of the Way 
of Life were perfected by long afflictions and abounding conso- 
lations. 

During these last years Dr. Boyd was a busy writer. In 
addition to the books he sent forth, he was a frequent contrib- 
utor to the religious press, and all his. writings were character- 
ized by the same attractive freshness he gave to familiar Gos- 
pel truth. Without pretension to fine writing, his style had 
many of the qualities of best literature. His sentences are 
perspicuous, his language bright and racy, his illustrations 
abundant, but well-chosen and felicitous, and his aim always 
to bring the reader to a closer acquaintance with the vital 
truths of the Gospel. It is, therefore, no mattei" of wonder 
that they have been so signally useful in awakening the thought- 
less, guiding the inquirer, and "edifying the body of Christ." 
Mr. Moody distributed thousands of copies of " Glad Tidings " 
in Great Britain, and was wont to say he knew of no book 
better for an inquirer. Dr. Boyd's days and years of suffering 
were greatly cheered by the good report which came to his sick 
room of the blessing that was attending his books wherever 
they went. He felt in them he was still preaching the Gospel, 
and to much greater audiences. On the very day of his fune- 
ral a letter came from a pastor in an Eastern city, giving an 
account of his conversion. The following is an extract from 
that letter — but one of very many that might be quoted : 

" My pastor gave me 'None but Christ,' and it was while 
reading it away up in the third story of the shop, on King 
Street, in the early morning of the first of June, 1865, that I 
found Christ. From that moment to this hour I have not 
ceased to prize ' None but Christ,* and to think of Dr. Boyd 
as one of my nearest and dearest friends. I keep a number 
of copies for lending to the anxious, and I can safely say it has 
been the means of bringing more souls to a knowledge of the 
truth, than any book I have ever used. It is my favorite vol- 
ume for anxious souls." 

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon wrote thus about " The World's 
Hope:" 



XXVI BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD, 

" We are delighted with this book. It is after our own 
heart. Here we have the Gospel set forth in all its simplicity, 
not with wisdom of words and embellishments of chilling rhe- 
toric, but after the fashion of the I,ord of preachers, with 
many a simile and instructive parable. We were never more 
hearty in commenditig any book. Its theme, its style, its spirit 
— all win our admiration." 

Tidings of this sort cheered the twelve years of his suffer- 
ing. But he had other sources of happiness, one of which was 
his cheerful and thankful spirit by which he always saw the 
silver lining of the cloud. He says, " I have been kept very 
cheerful for the most part during my affliction. It was said of 
one that he had a knack at hoping, and I think that must be 
my case. Besides God has given me such views of His char- 
acter and gospel that I can not be gloomy, much less despair- 
ing. Why should a living man complain and especially a man 
in whom Christ lives by his spirit, and to whom he says, ' Be- 
cause I live ye shall live also.' " 

It is not to be doubted these last words give the secret of 
that peacefulness and buoyancy of spirit, which marked all 
those silent years and which were a wonder to so many. Per- 
haps the best insight that can be given into the experiences 
through which the Lord was leading his servant in those ripen- 
ing autumn days of his life, may be obtained from glances at 
his journal. 

"August I, 1873. Have been thinking a great deal about 
my helpless condition, confined to my bed for so many years, 
and wondering greatly what could be the design of my Lord in 
this affliction. My mind has been, turned to the subject of 
prayer, and how no one need be useless wiiile upon earth as 
long as he can pray. 

"August 24, 1873. This is my fifty-seventh birthday and 
I have been solemnly reviewing my life. The goodness of God 
in contrast with my own sinfulness has affected me. That I 
was born under religious influence and that the Holy Spirit led 
me early to feel myself a lost and undone sinner with an in- 
terest in Jesus, I feel to be a matter of eternal gratitude. . . . 



HIS PROTRACTED SICKNESS. XXVli 

Our days are determined, the number of our years is fixed. A 
few years ago I was amid the bustle and excitement of a pub- 
lic life ; now I am laid upon a bed of pain, where in a trying 
monotony the years roll over me, but I can almost see the end 
of the course, I trust through grace to finish it with joy. Already 
I can say, ' He doeth all things well.' ' It is good for me that 
I have been afflicted.' He has led me by the right way. . . . 
By faith the believer dies daily to the world, and that makes 
his dying, at last, easy. His soul is refreshed like Stephen's 
by a view of his glorified Lord waiting to receive him. Troubles 
may come in a sweeping crashing tempest, but his soul is calm, 
for his heart and his treasure are far above the storm. 

"January i, 1874. I have been permitted to enter upon 
another year. It has been a year of remarkable events both 
among nations and churches, and from my retirement I have 
watched them with great and prayerful interest. At this be- 
ginning of the year I have had some very solemn reflections 
about the swiftness of time and its shortness. I can with all 
my heart utter the prayer ofl"ered four thousand years ago, ' So 
teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts 
unto wisdom.' Oh! that in the steady on going of time I 
might attain to a holier life, a greater nearness to God and a 
meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. 

"January 17, 1874. I am still a prisoner of hope. For 
s«x years and four months I have been confined to my bed. It 
can easily be supposed that I have had many trying hours dur- 
ing these years; but I can confidently say, to the glory of 
God's grace, that not for a moment have I been i)ermitted to 
doubt God's love and wisdom in afilicting me, nor to cherish 
one murmuring thought. I know that the hand that snatched 
me as a brand from the burning, the hand that was nailed to 
the cross for me, is the same hand that holds the rod of afflic- 
tion ; and He will not inflict one stroke more than wisdom sees 
needful. I know that He stands by the furnace and will not 
make it hotter fhan is necessary to purify and fit for the higher 
service of Heaven. 

"May I, 1874. The joyous Spring has come once more 



XXVIU BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

and all nature begins to put on her attractive robes. The 
Winter that I so much dreaded when it began has passed to 
return no more, and I have been borne through it much better 
than I expected. Oh ! that a spring of reviving hoUness might 
come to my soul. I know that in Jesus all fulness dwells, that 
He is made unto us sanctification as well as justification, and 
those holy impulses and spiritual thoughts for which my soul 
longs must come from Him. I hear Him say, ' Abide in me 
and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself ex- 
cept it abide in the vine, no more can ye except abide in me.' 
What a close union this implies between Christ and the soul of 
the believer ' 

A hope so much divine 

May trials well endure, 
And purge the soul from sense and sin 

As Christ himself is pure." 

During these last years Dr. Boyd abated nothing from the 
intelligent and lively interest he always took in all public af- 
fairs both of the Church and the Nation. It was a frequent 
remark of friends who had visited him in his retirement that 
he knew far more of what was going on in the world, than the 
majority of people who were busy in its concerns. An omniv- 
erous reader of every thing in reach, he was thoroughly posted 
on current events the world around. Was there a revival any- 
where ? He knew about it and rejoiced in it. Did his favor- 
ite Temperance cause make progress at any point ? He knew 
all the details of it and thrilled with pleasure as if he were in 
the midst of the battle. Were missions prosperous .'' His 
journal records his interest and his faith in all the work. And 
all the affairs of all the churches he had ever served, were 
fresh in his mind and their welfare borne constantly upon his 
heart." Thus while Mr. Moody was in Scotland, he wrote to 
his old friend John Robertson : 

*'The prayers of thousands are going up for him " (Mr. 
Moody) "daily, that he may be sustained in the wonderful 
work the Lord has given him to do. I have been anxiously 
watching the papers to see if he and his assistant were going 



HIS SICK-ROOM. Xxix 

to visit Stirling and its vicinity, the scenes of my early labors 
and of many tender and affectionate remembrances. If you 
see him, give him my love and tell him that though laid upon 
a bed of sickness and pain, I follow him with my prayers and 
that the precious love of Jesus we have so often spoken about 
is my comfort and support day and night." 

The monotony of his life at this time was somewhat re- 
lieved by the great numbers of people who came to Waukesha 
to derive benefit from the mineral waters, many of whom 
availed themselves of the privilege of visiting at his bedside. 
As his mind was alert and clear as ever, this privilege was 
prized by all who enjoyed it. He had the happy faculty of 
projecting himself thoroughly into the interests of others. He 
was, moreover, uniformly cheerful in his conversation. So 
visitors who came to comfort him found, in turn, they had been 
comforted, entertained and helped. His religion was full of 
joy. Without gloom and without cant, he could bring it in 
through the door of the most casual conversation in such nat- 
ural and winning ways, as to leave the best of impressions. 
In this manner he was constantly preaching Christ, and peo- 
ple unused to personal talks on the subject of religion found 
themselves willing and profited listeners. Fond of anecdote, 
with a keen relish for wit and humor, he was the life of every 
little circle around his bed, and it was frequently remarked that 
iittle room, which had witnessed so much pain and sorrow, 
was the sunniest and brightest of spots. Other people brought 
their troubles to him, that they might be comforted, and in 
every conversation, whether merry or serious, he always 
^seemed to contribute more than he received. No wonder that 
room was a favorite spot. Heaven, indeed, had favored it 
with a rare earthly buoyancy and a rare divine grace. 

The wonders of that grace became more manifest when the 
family afflictions through which he passed in those years are 
remembered. The family of Dr. and Mrs. Boyd consisted of 
nine daughters, one of whom an infant, died in Scotland. 
The remaining eight grew up to womanhood, six of them 
having; married during their father's life-time. Three of them 



XXX BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

died while Dr. Boyd was confined to his bed — two being 
buried from the house and carried to his bedside in their cof- 
fins for the final farewell — and one of them dying in the vil- 
lage, of small-pox, could not be seen by her father, even for 
the painful privilege of a farewell look. Two sons-in-law ako 
passed away during this time and five grandchildren. There 
were ten funerals from that house while he lay upon that bed. 
And yet he could say that not one murmuring thought ever 
crossed his mind! When, in the Spring of 1878, the body of 
the last of his glorified daughters, the one who had long been 
his amanuensis and helper in the preparation of his books, 
was brought to his bedside, there was an accent of holy 
triumph in his words : " It will not be long." And it was not. 
During the Summer and Autumn of that year, his disease as- 
sumed still graver forms, and it seemed as if the end must be 
imminent. But his wonderful constitution carried him through 
the Winter — a great sufferer but a triumphing saint. He 
longed for the release, when it should please the Lord, but he 
bore his wakeful nights and painful days without a repining 
word. He now became the man of one book, and that book 
the Bible. Other books were not often sought, but the Bible 
was his constant companion. As the Summer wore on, his 
condition, which had for years puzzled medical men, became a 
still greater mystery. The mystery was that he continued to 
live. He now would often sink to a half conscious state and 
lie for hours, as if hardly realizing what was passing about 
him, but if any one entered to converse with him, the lethargy 
was gone in an instant, the bright light shone in his eyes 
again, and the old animation and interest returned. So, to the 
last, he could at any moment rise out of his afflictions to take 
part in the most trivial concerns of those about them. 

Thus he continued until August 30th, 1879. Some of his 
grandsons and the writer of this sketch had been visiting him 
and were about to take their departure. There were no indi- 
cations then that precluded the thought that he might live for 
months. On that morning, feeling that he should probably 
never see his grandsons again, he spoke with them earn- 



HIS TRIUMPHANT DEATH. XXXI 

estly of their future life, and gave them loving counsel. 
To the writer he said, " I am wearying of this road. It is 
getting very rough ; but I have learned to leave it all with 
God." During the morning, a number of ministerial friends, 
who had been at Waukesha in attendance upon the installation 
of the Rev. Robert Leslie, as pastor of the Baptist Church, 
called to bid him " Good bye." He led them in prayer with pe- 
culiar fervor, and then bade them farewell with great tender- 
ness, realizing that he should not look upon their faces again. 
But the end was nearer than he thought. Just after noon he 
was taken with a chill, which the physicians recognized as the 
beginning of the end. He passed a night of dreadful suffer- 
ing, but on Thursday morning seemed more comfortable. The 
twenty-third Psalm had furnished the theme for the prayer- 
meeting of the previous evening, and as his friends spoke of 
it, he also referred to the comforting words with evident 
delight. Too feeble to conduct family worship, he joined in it 
with rapt attention, and repeated over and over, with much 
fervor, the closing words, " For Jesus' sake." During the day 
he failed rapidly, but seemed conscious of all that was pass- 
ing. When his favorite hymn was sung, " Rock of ages, cleft 
for me," he opened his eyes, saying at the same time, quite 
distinctly, '' My Shepherd ; " evidently the thought of the 
morning had been lingering with him through the day. These 
were his last words. None fitter could be spoken. Had not 
that Shepherd held him in His arms all those twelve weary 
years, and was he not even then at the very door, going in to 
" dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Toward midnight 
he opened his eyes with one earnest, grateful and loving look 
upon her who watched beside him and whom, in the dedica- 
tion of this book, he had called " his constant, patient and af- 
fectionate nurse — his always sympathizing and true-hearted 
wife," and then, without a struggle, fell asleep in Jesus. 

On Saturday a great concourse of friends from near and far 
foUowed his remains to their resting place in the cemetery, 
where among his dead kindred his body waits the resurrection 
of the just. On Sabbath evening all the churches of the 



XXXll BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BOYD. 

village united in a memorial service, which, though a memorial 
of Dr. Boyd, was also designed and calculated to honor the 
Savior whose grace had sustained him in his active life and in 
his prolonged sufferings. And the hymn that appropriately 
closed the service was one that, long a favorite with Dr. Boyd, 
might fittingly be inscribed above his place of rest. 
In the Cross of Christ I glory. 

He was fond of quoting a remark of Bengel's, " Were 
the highest heavens my pulpit, the universe my audience, and 
eternity my day, Jesus Christ alone should be my theme." To 
this theme he was supremely loyal. Wherever his sermon be- 
gan he was sure to find his way to the cross before he closed. 
Whatever subject engaged his pen it was set in the light of 
Calvary. And when preaching and writing both had failed 
him, Jesus was the dearest theme of conversation. And by 
that singleness and grandeur of aim, "he being dead ye,t 
speaketh," in the books that will live, and in the life greater 
than the books, that will not be forgotten. He wrote once in 
his journal, and with a tremulous hand, these words sent him 
by some sympathizing friend: 

I can- do nothing but pray, 
Lying here, useless day by day, 
Tired feet that no more may go 
On my Master's errands, to and fro. 
Languid hands that perforce are still 
Folded, inactive at His will ; 
The long, slow hours pass away 
Only able to pray. 

But what things are wrought by folded hands, what ser- 
mons preached by silent lips, what energies hidden in un- 
spoken prayer — how loyally they serve who only wait — this 
will be the long lesson and the masterly surprise of eternity. 
And even here we can see the close of such a life is like the 
setting of a sun. The heavens are deeper and clearer, and the 
very shadows that gather across the world are soft and holy, 
and stretch away suggestively toward the morning that cometh. 



THE 



WORLD'S HOPE, 



OR 



The Rock of Ages. 



Part I. 



Trial and Triumphs of Faith ; 



SCRIPTURE EXAMPLES. 



"Followers of them, who, through faith and patience, 
inherit the promises '" 

'"These all died in faith." 



THE TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS 
OF FAITH. 



CHAPTER I. 

ABEL — AN ACCEPTED WORSHIPER. 

The inspired writers give us very short biographical no- 
tices of Scripture characters, but very comprehensive and 
pointed. They tell us simply what they did, and leave us to 
infer from that what they were. Their virtues weie not over- 
rated, their faults were not concealed. The key-note of a 
great character is often given in a few words or a single sen- 
tence, and the fact left to speak for itself. 

There are many things that conspire together to make Abel 
a most notable cTiaracter ; not only a most interesting subject 
for our consideration, but one full of practical improvement. 
He was a member of the first family that ever existed on the 
earth. He was the first human being that was called to pass 
through the portals of death. Great is the harvest which 
death has reaped since, having made of our earth a huge sep- 
ulcher as it revolves around the sun; but his was the first 
human heart over whose strings the cold fingers of death 
groped ; the first whose warm, bounding life was chilled by 
his icy touch. And it is surely worthy of remark, that the first 
person of our race that was called to go out to meet the King 
of Terrors was a young man. It was not one who had the 
frost of years upon his head, whose limbs were tottering arir' 



12 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

palsied under the weight of years, who was flrst taken ; but 
one in the prime of youthful vigor, and through whose full 
veins the tide of life danced merrily. A terrible rebuke to 
those who are planning to neglect the salvation of their souls, 
till the shadows of old age pass over them. Death's first vic- 
tim was not only young, but such have been the vast majority 
of his victims ever since. And the first death in the world 
was sudden. With the suddenness of the lightning's flash, with 
the rapidity of the lion's spring, death came upon him. The 
grim King sent no notice of his approach ; not by slow, slow 
advances did he attack the citadel of life ; not even in the 
dark midnight hour did he come ; but in the open fields, amid 
the splendor of heaven's light, with nature's voices of sweetest 
music in his ears, and the pulse of life throbbing vigorously in 
his bosom, Abel was stricken down in death. 

But the best remains to be told. The first man that died in 
our world was a good man. We learn this, not by some flat- 
tering inscription put over his grave by the hand of partial 
friendship, nor by some glowing eulogy pronounced over his 
dust ; but by the testimony of God himself. Before he died 
" he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of 
his gifts." Blessed be God, that the first human soul that 
passed from earth went to glory ! Heaven had the first fruits. 
And it is a pleasing reflection, that after all the blighting, 
withering curse which sin has brought upon our world, 
vastly more of the human family will be saved than lost. 
More than one-half of our race die in infancy, and these are 
forever safe. Then there are the millions of the redeemed in 
every age — a cloud of witnesses : and then, before the end of 
time the world will have its long Sabbath of holy rest, its cen- 
turies of gospel triumph, when all shall rejoice in the truth. 
Yes ; Christ shall have the majority, and the number of the lost 
in hell, the outcasts from God through unbelief, shall be but 
smaJl compared with the vast congregation of holy, blood- 
washed souls, that shall be gathered around him in heaven — a 
multitude that no man can number. We thank God for thij 
happy thought. 



ABEL AX ACCP:PTED WORSHIPER. I 3 

But the first man that died from this world was not only a 
good man, but a martyr also. He died for his religion. This 
vile, wretched business of religious persecution began very 
early, and it still goes on. " Marvel not," says the Master, " if 
the world hate you." \\'e are told to expect that those who 
are of the flesh will persecute those who are of the Spirit. The 
slaves of sin have always hated the truth, and those whom it 
made free. The voice of good men testifying for God tor- 
ments their consciences ; and thqy think that the quickest way 
to silence is to kill them. Blows, not arguments; stripes, not 
logic ; brute force, not persuasion, are the weapons which error 
delights to employ. They are carnal weapons, not spiritual; 
weapons forged in hell, not drawn from the polished armory of 
heaven. 

One; thing, however, that has troubled persecutors in every 
^ge is, that though they can kill good men, they cannot kill 
their principles. The man dies, but the truths he uttered live 
on, all the brighter and the stronger because of his death. 
Why did Cain kill Abel .^ God tells us that it was" because 
his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." But he 
did not get rid of the troublesome protest of his brother's 
principles by killing him. God said, " The voice of thy 
brother's blood calleth to me from the ground." And it not 
only called to -Ciod, but to men; and his voice has sounded 
down through the ages, and reverberated through the world, 
ever since. " He being dead yet speaketh." He never spoke 
so pointedly and elo(piently in favor of God's grace, as when 
wrapped in his bloody shroud he lay in his grave. He then 
spoke with a voice potent to touch the hearts of men, and 
which the earth and the sod which covered his remains could 
not stifle. So it is ever. Truth persecuted advances more 
rapidly and spreads like a prairie fire before a sweeping 
tempest. God makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and 
'' the blood of the martyrs becomes the seed of the Church." 

Abel was the first to test the power of the covenant of grace 
to carry the soul through the awful realities of death. On the 
very spot where sin had shown its deformed visage, grace 



14 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

planted its holy standard and obtained a victory. It began 
its work of restoration on the very soil, in the same family 
circle, where the curse and the ruin of sin had fallen. Be- 
fore the sinner is driven out of Eden, the scene of his holiness 
and his happiness, and also the scene of his sin and his dis- 
grace ; the promise of grace comes to him. Not that God's 
grace only began when man sinned. No, it was from all eter- 
nity • like the life of Jehovah it had no beginning. But when 
man sinned, it began to show itself. Man's sin called out and 
made known what had forever existed in the divine mind. 
And wondrous grace met man just in the depth of his great 
need. 

It is ever thus. If sin abounds, grace much more abounds. 
The sinner may sink down, down to great depths of sin and 
degradation ; but he can find that the arms of mighty grace 
are still under him to lift him up, if he depends thereon. 'This 
grace met Paul in the midst of his bloody persecution. It met 
the poor, guilty jailor in the midst of his cruelty to the Lord's 
servants. It went, with the pleadings of love, to the Jerusalem 
sinners, with their hands red with the blood of the Holy and 
Just One. It does not stand on a pinnacle of proud dignity 
and wait for the sinner's return, but it goes to the lowest 
depths to seek and save. 

It is the very nature of divine grace to manifest itself. Just 
as naturally as the sun pours out his bright and warming 
beams, or as the full fountain pours out its sparkling waters, 
so does Divine love break out in blessings upon our race. It 
IS of the very nature of God to love ; but infinite wisdom goes 
along with that love, selecting the time and the place and the 
way in which this grace was to be displayed. It is a foolish 
question : Could not God have appointed some other way to 
save sinners than through the death of his Son } No. The 
very fact that infinite love and wisdom selected that one way^ 
sets aside every other. It is the master-piece of God ; and 
much as it has done for our world already, it is yet to do much 
more. Much as we have seen of it at the foot of the cross, 
we will see much more at the foot of the throne. There it will 



ABEL AN ACCEPTED WORSHIPER. I5 

meet us with new displays of love, exceeding abundantly 
above all that we can ask or think. We shall then be able to 
comprehend more fully the wonders of sovereign grace ; but 
after it crowns and enthrones us, we will still have to say, " It 
passeth knowledge." 

It is wonderful that there is still such a tendency in the sin- 
ner's heart to put merit in the place of grace, man's shabby 
work in the place of Christ's glorious work. This is man re- 
sorting to mere human quackery, instead of going to the balm 
of Gilead, that alone brings health and healing to the soul. 
There is but one thing that can save a soul, and nothing but 
that, nothing before that, nothing besides that, can save ; and 
that is faith in Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. It was by be- 
lieving in this that Abel was saved ; and you, my reader, can 
only be saved in the same way. O the glory, the sweetness, 
the nearness of this free grace ! It is near us all, free to us all, 
and none are excluded but those that exclude themselves. 
Take a firm hold of Christ by the hand of faith, and your 
heart will be filled with what Samuel Rutherford called '* a 
young heaven." A gentleman tells us that he asked a little 
girl of only five years, "Are you a sinner.?" "No, sir," she 
promptly replied. " But," said he, " have you never done any- 
thing that was wrong .?" " O yes, a great many times." " How, 
then, can you say that you are not a sinner.?" " It is tooke?t 
iuvay^'' was her reply, " Who has taken it away .?" he asked. 
Her reply was, "I have trusted in Christ." None could have 
given a clearer and more intelligent idea of the plan of sal- 
vation. 

Reader, you are now enjoying your day of grace. Like an 
angel of mercy it walks abroad and in tones sweet and clear, 
sounds out the story of God's love. Here and there some 
perishing sinner believes the message and is saved. Novv it is 
a persecuting Saul, then a backsliding Peter. At one time it is 
a doubting Thomas, while at another it is an honest incjuirer 
like Cornelius. But whether it was a proud ruler or an outcast 
woman, a humble publican, or a dying thief — in the fullness of 
Christ's love there was room for them all. The best robe is 



l6 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

put upon the wretched wanderer, and he is welcomed home as 
a fellow-heir with Christ. Then the believer can adopt the 
language Qf an old author, " My soul is like a hungry and 
thirsty child, and I need His love and consolation for my re- 
freshment ; I am a wandering and lost sheep, and I need Him 
as a good and faithful Shepherd ; my soul is like a frightened 
dove pursued by the hawk, and I need His wounds for a 
refuge ; I am a feeble vine, and I need His cross to lay hold 
of and wind myself about ; I am a sinner, and I need His 
righteousness ; I am naked and bare, and need His holiness 
and innocence for a covering ; I am in trouble and alarm, and 
I need His solace ; I am ignorant, and I need His teaching ; 
simple and foolish, and I need the guidance of His Holy 
Spirit. When I am forsaken, He must be my support ; when 
dying, my life; when mouldefing in the grave, my resurrection. 
Well, then, I will part with all the world and all that it con- 
tains, rather than with Thee, my Saviour." 

W^e desire now to fix attention upon the most important 
point in the history of Abel, and that is, that sinner as '^e was 
he was an accepted worshiper by the holy God. " The Lord 
had respect unto Abel and his offering ; but unto Cain and to 
his offering he had not respect." In these two brothers there 
was a vast difference — a difference almost as great as between 
light and darkness, as between an angel and a fiend. But in 
what did it consist ? Not of anything natural to them, nor in 
their outward circumstance. In these respects they were alike. 
They were born of the same parents, brought up in the same 
family, heard the same instructions, were surrounded with 
the same circumstances, had naturally the same depraved 
hearts, and were both sinners before God. Yea, up to a cer- 
tain point, their very religion was alike. They both recognized 
the Being of a God. They both acknowledged the truth that 
God should be worshiped, and that he has imperative claims 
upon us and upon all that we possess. 

But here the difference between the two becomes very great. 
The one came to God in the way of God's appointment, and 
the other did not. The difference between them lay not in 



ABEL AN ACCEPTED WORSHIPER. I7 

anything in the-ir natural characters, but in the sacrifices pre- 
sented. " By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent 
sacrifice than Cain ;" so we see it was not something in the 
offerer, but in the offering, that made the one be accepted and 
the other rejected Cain came to offer to God the fruit of a 
sin-cursed earth, with no shed blood to remove that curse. By 
faith Abel grasped the great truth that " without the shedding 
of blood there could be no remission of sin." He saw that 
he was a sinner, and that the wages of sin was death. He saw, 
therefore, death and the terrible curse standing between him 
and communion with his God ; and in his offering he brought a 
sacrificed life to meet the claims of God's insulted purity. 
Through the dying struggles of the lamb that he brought, 
through the blood that streamed forth from the victim, he 
looked away by faith to Calvary, and saw, but dimly it may 
be, the Saviour dying for him. And hence he had the witness 
that he was righteous and that his worship was accepted ; not 
because of anything good in him, but simply because of the 
goodness of the medium through which he approached. It 
was the heaven-appointed medium. 

We see, then, that the great cardinal truth upon which man's 
salvation has turned, ever since he became a sinner, is the 
shed blood of Jesus — a sinless victim. When Christ entered 
our world, it would not have been enough that he lived a sin- 
less life, that he preached pure, heavenly truth, that he 
healed the sick, and brightened his pathway with the 
most God-like benevolence ; all these would not have 
constituted him a Saviour. To be a Saviour for sinners he 
must die upon the cross ; for it was his death that rent the 
veil that hung between man and his God ; and that prevented 
all approach of the guilty creature to the infinitely holy Cre- 
ator. His blood alone cleanses from all sin. 

Here was the great mistake of Cain. He came with an un- 
bloody sacrifice ; merely the fruit of the earth that had the 
curse and stain of sin upon it. He came with it proudly as 
something that he had toiled for, and as a gift that would se- 
cure the favor of God. " God is not worshiped with men's 



l8 THE world's hope. 

hands, as though he needed anything." No ; the claims of in- 
finite justice, the demands of holy law, cannot be met by the 
sweat of the sinner's brow, or the toil of his hands ; he has 
nothing to offer God which he has not first received from Him; 
and so there can be no merit, Man, in the pride of his heart, 
would like to have the flattering unction laid to his soul that he 
can confer some favor upon God ; that he can make Jehovah 
sometimes the receiver, not always the giver. But he seeth such 
proud souls afar oif ; he rejects with indignation their attempts 
to bribe him — their offerings and their pretended worship. " If 
I were hungry I would not tell thee." 

And yet this Cain worship has been, and still is, the fashiona- 
ble, popular religion of the world. No religionist has ever had 
so many followers as Cain. Every false religious system that 
has ever appeared in the world has gone upon this principle, 
that man can by his own gifts and deeds please God and secure 
his favor. Some of these systems of error may be more gross 
and degrading than others ; but in this they all agree, that in 
their own prayers, their tears and repentance, their works and 
sacrifices, their alms and good deeds must lie their chief hope 
of salvation. Some of them, after doing the best that they can 
for themselves, will speak about Jesus being a helper to make 
up their deficiencies ; but to depend upon Christ alone, to trust 
all on grace, as revealed in the gospel, is a doctrine that makes 
them look like Cain, of whom it is said, " he was very wroth, 
and his countenance fell." 

Here we see that it was not a mere arbitrary act on the part 
of God, to reject the sacrifice of the one brother, and to accept 
the other. There was a good reason for it. The one adopted 
God's plan of acceptance, the other clung to one of his own. 
The one was filled with peace and love to God; the other 
was filled with wrath and enmity. The one went bound- 
ing into the presence of God with joyful assurance ; the 
other went out from God's presence with a brow dark as a 
thunder-cloud. Cain's religion had a bad foundation ; it rested 
on human merit. What, then, could be expected from it but 
misery and death.? Abel's religion rested on the merits of 



ABEL AX ACCEPTED WORSHIPER. 19 

Christ ; and it secured to him, therefore, all the fullness of God. 
In short, the whole difference might be summed up in one 
word : the one had faith and the other had not. To some this 
may seem a very small matter, but in the sight of God it was 
everything. And in matters of religion the question is not 
what will suit my notions, or what will please men ; but 
what will please the Great Judge with whom we have all 
to do.^ If all the world was pleased with us, and the most 
learned critics of the world united in calling our theory 
of religion rational, and intellectual, and the very embodi- 
ment of all wisdom, what would it avail if, when the great 
testing time came, God should thunder out, " I know you 
not" — "Depart from me!" Now, we are expressly told, that 
" without faith it is impossible to please God ; " and so those 
who " go in the way of Cain" must perish. Faith in what 
God said made Abel a child of God — a favorite of heaven ; 
unbelief made Cain an outcast and a cast-away from his Lord's 
presence. 

It may be asked, How did Abel come to know so well the 
plan of salvation ? I answer, that faith cometh by hearing, and 
hearing by the word of God. His faith rested where the faith 
of all saints in all ages has rested, on God's promise. When 
Adam sinned, dark terror took hold of his mind ; and, to show 
how far he had fallen, he sought to flee from the glance of the 
Omniscient eye ! Dark suspicion, and remorse, and shame, all 
wrought together to trouble and distract his soul, as ocean is 
lashed into a fury by tempests. The thought of God's pres- 
ence was now as painful to him as it had once been delightful ; 
and the chief wish of his soul was to live as far from God as 
possible — in a Godless state, in a Godless world. But God 
follows the fleeing rebel ; not with thunderbolts of wrath, but 
with words of grace and promise. The promise of a coming 
Saviour was given, who, through suffering, was to bruise the 
head of the serpent. 

It has been truly said, " This was but a dim and partial rev- 
elation. It was the first ray of returning light. It was not the 
sun, — that was not to rise for ages, — neither was it the morn. 



20 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

It was only the first streak of brightness upon the overhanging 
clouds. It foretold the dawn ; it was the forerunner of the sun. 
The clouds did forthwith depart, the curse did not leave the 
earth, man's restoration was not complete ; but the process was 
begun by which all these would be accomplished. Yes, we can 
see that all the. elements of the glad tidings of the Gospel were 
wrapped up in this promise. The coming deliverer was to be 
a man, born of a woman; and yet, he was evidently to be 
something more than man, for he was to be the deliverer of the 
race and the destroyer of Satan. The Saviour was to be a 
sufferer, and yet to comeoff a conqueror; he was to meet with 
enmity, bitter and relentless ; was to engage in a conflict, and 
in that conflict was to be wounded ; and through this very 
wounding victory was to come. This promise was but dim, 
but along with it sacrifices were established ; and the one cast 
light upon the other. The altar stood side by side with the 
promise ; and what was seen with the eyes helped to explain 
what was heard with the ears. There was the flaming sword, 
and nothing but blood was able to turn aside its vengeful edge ; 
and right before that sword of justice lay the bleeding victim 
of sacrifice upon the altar ; all pointing to a time when the 
sword of Divine Justice would be quenched in the blood of 
Jesus on the hill of Calvary. 

These are the great truths which Abel learned and, what is 
better, which he practiced. Doubtless Cain had the same op- 
portunities to know the truths which his brother possessed ; 
but unbelief shut up his heart against them. He was not the 
victim of an arbitrary sovereignty, that took one and rejected 
another; without any good reason. It is true that one was 
taken and the other was left ; but it was then as it is now, one 
was taken because he had faith in Christ, and the other was 
left because of his unbelief. The Divine Master with whom 
we have to do is no respecter of persons ; but He has great 
respect to the humble in heart, and takes up his abode with 
those'who lovingly confide in his word. 

The great difference between the two brothers as worship- 
ers, reminds us forcibly of similar cases occurring many cen^ 



AHKL AN ACCEPIED WOKSHIPKR. 21 

turies later. Take the case of the Pharisee and the Publican, 
who w^nt up to the temple to pray, in our Lord's days upon 
earth. What a contrast between these two men ! " One nearer 
to the altar stood, the other to the altar's God." The one, full 
of pride and vain glory, comes to tell the Lord what a good 
man he is ; the other, emptied of self and utterly stripped of 
all human dependence, comes to cast himself on God's mercy 
alone. The one comes to prove himself the chief of Phari- 
sees; the other, to confess himself the chief of sinners. The 
one comes to vindicate himself and condemn his fellow wor- 
shiper; the other comes to condemn himself and vindicate 
God. The one goes up to a great heignt of self-glorification, by 
which he is only sinking into hell ; the other goes down to a 
great depth of self-abasement, by which he rises to heaven. 
And we need not wonder that when the hour of worship was 
over, the 6ne went down to his home a child of wrath, an heir 
of hell ; while the other went down to his house justified, a 
child of God and an heir of eternal glory. 

We see the same contrast presented in the case of the two 
thieves upon the cross. They both heard the words of truth 
that Jesus spoke upon the cross. They were both equally near 
to Him in the local sense of the term. They w^ere both sin- 
ners, on the verge of eternity, their souls exposed to the same 
peril. They were in exactly the same outward circumstances ; 
had the same opportunities of being saved. Yet one begins to 
pray, the other to blaspheme. One reviles Ghrist, the other 
confesses him. One vindicates our Lord's innocence, the other 
joins with the mocking crowd against him. In short, the one 
believes in our Lord's powder to save him, his prayer being the 
prayer of faith, while the other continues in unbelief and sin. 
The result is, that the one dies with the sound of pardon and 
acceptance ringing in his ears and comforting his soul, while 
the other dies as he lived, a stranger to God and holiness. 

How evident, then, it is, that persons enjoying the same priv- 
ileges, who have listened to the same preaching, for whom the 
same fervent prayers have been offered, who have been ten- 
derly nurtured in the same pious family, and passed through 



22 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

the same glorious revivals ; may at last be separated from each 
other, far as heaven is from hell. Yes, persons may "perform 
the same outwardly religious acts ; and yet, what is piety in 
one is profanity in another, because of the state of their hearts. 
The same holy w^ords may be uttered, the same outward relig- 
ious acts observed ; and yet, what is spiritual life to one may be 
death to another. To the one the gospel is the savor of life 
unto life, and to another of death unto death. Just as the 
Egyptians went down into the same sea, and by the same path, 
as the Israelites; but what proved life and salvation to the 
people of God proved death and destruction to their enemies. 

The Apostle Paul makes a statement concerning Abel which, 
being of general application to all men, is very impressive : 
"He being dead yet speaketh." Men are apt to think that 
when one has closed his eyes upon life and his body is covered 
up in the bosom of mother earth, this is the end of his 
influences and acts below, and that henceforth he is as if he 
had never been. But this is a great mistake. No matter how- 
humble or how exalted ; whether he acted in the eyes of a 
single family, or in the eyes of the nations of the world ; 
whether he spoke to a few hearers from his chair at his own 
fireside, or from the most exalted throne on earth ; his words 
will sound down through the ages, as we have heard voices 
echoing amid the mountain gorges, or reverberating from sum- 
mit to summit. "None of us," says Paul, " liveth to himself." 
That is, others must be affected by our life either for good 
or evil. And so, " no man dieth to himself." Centuries after 
we are dead, there will be souls made happy or miserable, saved 
or lost, through the influences we started before we died. Thi^ 
would be readily acknowledged in the case of great and dis- 
tinguished men, who have filled the world with their fame; and 
especially those whose printed words survive them, and influ- 
ence for good or evil their numerous readers. But it is equally 
true, though on a smaller scale, with the most obscure. We 
cannot live without touching strings of influence that reach 
into eternity. 

What vast importance does this thought impart to life ! Life 



ABEL AN ACCEPTFD WORSHIPER. 23 

would be but an empty, vain, paltry thing, if divorced from 
eternity. But when we know that all we think, and say, and 
do, all that we enjoy and suffer, all that elevates us with 
hope or depresses us with sorrow, all our calms and our storms, 
our weariness and our rest, are having a direct bearing upon 
our own everlasting state, and that of others ; how does life 
loom up into an importance that overshadows all worlds ! We 
say it is a solemn thing to die, but it is a thousand times more 
solemn to live. How we shall die, and where we shall be, 
millions of years from now, are dependent on the use we make 
of the frail thing we now call life. We are now gathering up 
the elements of blessing or woe in which we are to be wrapped 
when the sun shall have shot his last ray, and all the retinue 
of stars shall have expired in endless night. In this view of it, 
life is a priceless, glorious gift, but has hanging upon its slen- 
der thread the most tremendous consequences. 

If we must speak after death, we should so live that we shall 
speak for God and for the good of souls. And we should 
welcome any trial that God sends, that will enable us to do so 
more effectively. Hundreds of years ago an old Puritan min- 
ister, while under affliction, wrote a little book called the 
"" Bruised Reed " which was the means of the conversion of 
Richard Baxter. Baxter's " Call to the Unconverted," led to 
the conversion of Philip Doddridge. His*" Rise and Progress 
of Religion in the Soul," led to the conversion of Wilberforce, 
and his " Practical View of Christianity," was much blessed to 
Dr. Chalmers, of Scotland, whose influence now is world wide. 
When the Lord drove the plowshare of affliction through that 
old Puritan's heart, turning up to his view its hidden evils, and 
giving him a deeper sympathy with God in the great work he 
is carrying on, little did he realize the great harvest of glory 
that was to redound to God by such painful discipline. But 
he sees it now. Exalted far above the region of sorrow and 
strife and sin, he sees the dealing of the Lord in the light of 
his love ; and knows that " He hath done all things well." 

It has been a wonder to many, why Abel, and good men like 
him ever since, have been permitted to suffer affliction. But 



24 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

these have been intended for their personal good, and to make 
them useful to others, through all eternity. Like to yonder 
stream rushing on, free and untrammeled among the mountains, 
or through the veins of the earth ; but there is nothing to dis- 
tinguish it from any other stream of common water, till one 
day it strikes in its course some sanative mineral, by which it 
has a healing property imparted to it, that gives it a world- 
wide fame and brings to it thousands of invalids to rejoice in 
its health-giving virtues. Thus many now in glory are not 
only thanking God personally for their afflictions, but others 
who have been saved through their instrumentality, are helping 
them to swell their song of praise. They now see, with David,, 
that it was good for them that they were afflicted ; and are 
ready to say with an old writer, " O healthy sickness ! O com- 
fortable sorrows ! O gainful losses ! O enriching poverty ! 
O blessed day that ever I was afflicted I" 

'Dear, unconverted reader, have you pious friends in heaven ? 
Like Abel, they being dead are yet speaking to you. With 
them life's weary battle is over, and well over. Wandering 
by the banks of the river of life, or walking the golden streets, 
of the New Jerusalem, they are able to look over the past, and 
with quickened memory to bring up scene after scene through 
which they have struggled their weary way. There is that 
pious mother that so often prayed for you ; that godly father 
that counseled you ; that sabbath-school teacher that so ear- 
nestly sought to lead your young feet into the ways of the 
Lord, and that faithful pastor under whose powerful appeals- 
of love you so long sat as a hearer. These all speak to you 
to-day. They plead with you now. They urge you to flee 
from the wrath to come. They tell you of the willingness of 
that Jesus to save you, whose unclouded glory they now be- 
hold. They tell you tha* His blood still speaks better things 
than the blood of Abe) -speaks of mercy and love. O let 
them not speak in vain ! 



ABEL - AN ACCEPTED WORSHIPER. 



25 



" Know we not our dead are looking 

Downward with a sad surprise. 
All our strifes of words rebuking 

With their mild and loving eyes? 
Shall we grieve these holy angels, shall we cloud these blessed skies ? 



Krc the Ic 



"Let us draw their mantles o'er us, 

Which have fallen in our way ; 
Let us do the work before us, 
Cheerly, bravely, while we may, 
night — silence cometh, and with us it is not day. 




26 THE WORLDS HOPE, 



CHAPTER II. 

ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 

, JOOD man once observed, that when he got to heaven he 
exj. cted to meet with three causes of wonder. Tirst, he 
would wonder to see some that he did not expect to see 
there ; second, he would wonder to find some not there that he 
did expect to see ; and third, he would wonder most of all to 
find such an unworthy sinner as himself there. No doubt 
there will be many whose names have occupied a large place 
in the reHgious world on earth, whose names will not be 
known in heaven. They were zealous for a creed ; they had 
talent and tact and courage in leading a party ; they were in 
their element amidst the bitter rage and unholy strife of 
unprofitable controversy, but their hearts were not right in the 
sight of God. They made themselves a name and a fame ; 
they had many followers and admirers ; their partizans loaded 
them with titles and honors ; and when they died, volumes of 
biography were written about them, and marble monuments 
told a flattering story of their virtues ; but when they ap- 
proached the gates of heaven, God said, " I know you not." 
When the names recorded in the Lamb's book of life shall 
come to be read in heaven, when the affairs of earth shall be 
wound up, it will be found that names which went sounding 
down through the trumpet of history ; names that made 
whole nations tremble, will not be heard there at all. While 
on the other hand, the name of many a humble child of God, 
but little known on earth, or if known, covered all over with 
the slanders of the wicked, shall then stand high in the roll 
of glory. Saints, whose names were unknown among the 
jjroud ones of earth, or spoken only with a sneer, will be pro- 
nounced with approbation before assembled worlds. They 



ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 27 

that confessed Christ here, shall be confessed by him there ; 
and all the renown of earth is an empty bauble compared to 
that glory and honor. 

We have been led to make these remarks from considering 
the case of Enoch. Only a few words convey to us all that' we 
know about him ; but these are of such a character that we 
long to know more, and make us look forward with delight to 
the time when we shall see him face to face in heaven. Enoch, 
being contemporary with Adam, had no doubt learned from 
his lips the dark story of man's fall, and the brighter one of 
God's grace, as seen in the promise. The dreadful evil of sin, 
as seen in the rampant iniquity of the people around him, 
whose crimes were already crying to heaven for vengeance, 
must have deeply distressed his heart, and he felt the neces- 
sity of stemming the tide of profanation and impiety that 
rolled in murky darkness before his eyes. It is a pleasing re- 
flection ; that in the darkest and most declining time which our 
world has ever seen, God has never left himself without faithful 
witnesses to testify for him. He has always had a seed to 
serve him. 

There was a Noah in the midst of the general apostacy. 
There was a Lot in the midst of Sodom. There was an Abra- 
ham in Ur, and a Job in Uz. In the days of Elijah God's holy 
eye could discover seven thousand faithful souls, scarcely 
known to the world, and never wanting to be knoAvn. And in 
Malachi's days, when religion had sunk into such a low and 
formal state, the names of a few precious jewels in God's sight 
could be recorded, who feared the Lord and thought upon his 
name, and cheered their lonely pilgrim path by heavenly con- 
verse. Like an oasis in a desert ; like a sweet flower peeping up 
amid the departing snows, like a bright star breaking out of a 
dark night to cheer the tempest-tossed mariner; such is the 
child of Ciod, gathering an increase of brightness from sur- 
rounding gloom. To live i7i the world but not of it ; like a 
holy Daniel in Babylon, not a partaker of her sins, but an un- 
flinching protester against them ; this is the position for the 
good man to occupy. And though the influences of the world 



28 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

are corrupting, yet strength from a Divine source is given to 
those who seek it by faith. In the dark ages, when pardon 
through the blood of Jesus was ignored, and mercenary priests 
hawked pardons about the streets for sale ; when justification 
by faith in Jesus was sneered at, and justification by fasting* 
and scourgings and other penances was unblushingly pro- 
claimed ; when what was called the Church of Christ became 
rich by the blood of souls ; God kept alive the Albigenses and 
Waldenses to testify for the truth. The world has never been 
so dark that the sparkling rays of the Star of Bethlehem 
might not be seen by those who were looking for the true 
light. 

The inspired record about Enoch is very brief, but very 
suggestive. " And Enoch w^alked with God : and he was not ; 
for God took him." And upon this the apostle Paul says, "By 
faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death ; and 
was not found, because God had translated him ; for before his 
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God." Some 
writers have spoken of Abel's death as a symbol of Christ as 
the great Propitiation for sin, and of Enoch's translation as a 
type of His resurrection and ascension. But not to adopt an 
interpretation that may be more fanciful than real, it is evident 
that if Abel's death showed the awful nature of sin, the trans- 
lation of Enoch showed the power and glory of Divine grace. 
In the one we see sin digging a gloomy and loathsome grave; 
in the other we see grace opening a bright and glorious 
heaven. In the death of the one we see the hatred of God to 
sin ; but' in the translation of the other we see the beauteous 
immortality which his love opens up for the faithful — for those 
that trust the promises of grace. ■ The one said, " The wages 
of- sin is death ;" the other said, " The gift of God is eternal 
life." 

" Enoch walked with God." This implies a very high state 
of piety and of spirituality of mind. The expression is so 
often used in religious meetings, and we have become so familiar 
with the sound of the words, that we scarcely realize how much 
't implies. It tells us of a nearness to God, of an enjoyment 



ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 29 

•of God, of a sweetness felt in the presence of (iod, of a per- 
fect confidence in Him, and holy familiarity in conversing 
with Him, of which none but the choice spirits of our race, those 
of whom the world was not worthy, have ever been made par- 
takers. It is man dwelling with God, and God taking up his 
abode with man. *' I in them, and they in me," says the Lord 
Jesus. To souls untaught from above, these expressions sound 
like the ravings of a dreamy mysticism, but to those taught in 
the school of Christ their unmistakable meaning is engraven on 
their hearts. They speak that which they know. 

President Edwards gives us a correct picture of walking 
with God, in a relation of his own experience. He says, " I 
had vehement longings of soul after God and Christ, and after 
more holiness, wherewith my heart seemed to be full and 
ready to break, which often brouglit to my mind the words of 
the Psalmist, ' My soul breaketh for the longing it hath.' I 
•often felt a longing and lamenting in my heart that I had not 
turned to God sooner, that 1 might have had more time to grow 
in grace. My mind was greatly fi.Ked in Divine things, year 
^fter year, often in walking alone in the woods and solitary 
places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse 
with (iod ; and it was always my manner at such times to sing 
forth my contemplation. I was almost constantly in ejacula- 
tor) prayer, wherever I was. Prayer seemed to be natural to 
me, as the breath by which the inward burning of my heart 
had vent. The delights which I now felt in the things of reli- 
gion were of an exceedingly different kind from what I ever 
enjoyed before, and what I had no more notion of when a boy, 
than one born blind has of pleasant and beautiful colors. They 
were of a more inward, pure, soul-animating and refreshing 
nature. Those former delights never reached the heart, 
and did not arise from sight of the Divine excellency of 
the things of (iod, or any taste of the soul-satisfying and 
life-giving good there is in them." 

Yes; this is truly walking with God. And blessed be God, 
it is not confined to patriarchs and prophets, to apostles and 
martyrs, to ministers and reformers. There are thousand.) 



30 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

and tens of thousands to-day thus walking with God, that the 
world has never heard of and never will till the affairs of earth 
shall be brought to their final settlement. It has been my 
happy privilege to know many of them, and to see them 
ripening for their future life, as they walked on the verge of 
glory. And so much of heaven did they possess upon earth, 
that their departure seemed more a translation than dying. 
We felt the great blank which the loss of their presence here 
created, and with heart-longings gazed after them into the 
heavens, and wished to follow them to their blessed home. 

"And after he was dead and gone, 
And e'en his memory dim, 
Earth seemed more sweet to live upon, 
More full of love because of him." 

To walk with God implies a converted character. No man 
by nature chooses God for his companion. On the contrary 
there is an aversion, an enmity, a dislike to think of God, as 
he is revealed in the Bible, that make men turn their backs 
upon him and seek to get out of his presence. " I remem- 
bered God and was troubled." It is true, that sinners some- 
times get up a god in their own imagination of which they are 
not afraid, and which they even cherish an affection for. They 
conjure up a god all mercy, making no distinction between sin 
and holiness, between the righteous and the wicked ; a god all 
made up of what they call goodness — a goodness without 
truth and without justice ; and this god they can walk with. 
But it is just as much an idol they worship as that of the 
heatiien man who makes one with his own hands, and carries 
it about in his pocket, or sets it up in his house. Until men 
are converted their whole course is away from the God of the 
Bible. They are going from God and toward destruction, and 
that with increasing speed day by day, until in conversion a 
total change takes place. Indeed, the word conversion, 
coming from the Latin word coTwertere, means to turn round. 
Then they walk with God instead of away from him. Their 
faces are turned towards God and heaven, instead of towards 
the world and hell. Their old pleasures and pursuits they 



ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 3 1 

leave behind them, and turn with new and consecrated ener- 
gies to objects worthy of their high destiny, and their immortal 
natures. 

To walk with God, in its very nature, implies being of one 
mind with him. " How can two talk together unless they be 
agreed?" We must submit our own wills to his, and permit 
his wisdom to take the place of our presumption. We must 
confide in him, willing to go where he leads, and to suffer what 
he appoints. We read of two apostels who walked together 
for a time, but they were not of one mind ; and strife and con- 
tention was the result. They had to separate and each take 
his own way. You have seen a criminal walking with a police 
officer, but it was not a willing walk; he was eagerly looking^ 
for a chance to escape. You have seen an insane person 
walking with his keeper ; but it was not a loving, joyous, in- 
telligent walk. The Christian's walk is very different from all 
of these. He commits himself to God to be led as he pleases, 
just as a loving child puts his hand into its father's, and walks 
with him through dark night or dense forest, with perfect con- 
fidence in his love and his wisdom. 

It was among the very first signs of his conversion when 
Paul cried, '' Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ?" . It is 
a state of mind that gives obedience in feehng and obedience 
in action. Instead of standing up in opposition to the great, 
harmonious, and holy will of our God, which is only beating 
our heads with frantic rage against a rock, we must say, " Not 
my will, but thine be done." The chief misery of earth arises 
from men setting up their own proud, selfish and wicked wills, 
and wanting to make everything bow to them. What are 
strifes and contentions in families, or nations, or churches, but 
a clashing of such wills? And what causes the impenitent 
sinner to live and die an outcast from all good, but because he 
will not submit to God's way of saving him? 

We could not walk with any comfort with one who was to us 
an object of suspicion. If you thought that he was going to 
rob you, or had designs upon your life, you would seek to get 
as far away from him as possible. To fhose who do not walk 



32 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

by faith, the thought of the constant presence of God is dread- 
ful. They do not like to think of it, nor to speak of it; and 
though they may not say so in so many words, yet they would 
rather that there was no God ! Yea, they sometimes speak out 
the bitterness of their hearts in the words, " Depart from us ; 
we desire not a knowledge of thy ways." 

Now, the believer is one who has been reconciled to God 
through the death of his Son. Through faith in Jesus he has 
seen the heart of God, and knows something of the great, 
abounding love that reigns there. In that love he confides. 
He can look up into the face of his Heavenly Father with the 
^varm glow of affection, and feels it his highest heaven to be in 
his presence. John Bunyan, in relating his conversion, gives a 
good idea of the beginning of his heavenly walk. " One day 
as 1 was passing into the field, and that too with some dashes 
on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly 
this sentence fell upon my soul : ' Thy righteousness is in 
iieaven;' and methought withal I saw, with the eyes of my 
soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand. There I saw was my 
.righteousness ; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was 
'^•domg, God could not say of me, ' He wants my righteousness,* 
ifor that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was 
not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better 
mor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse ; for 
my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever.' Now did my chains fall off my legs in- 
deed, — I was loosed from my afflictions and irons, my tempta- 
tions also fled away ; so that from that time those dreadful 
: Scriptures of God left off to trouble me. Now went I also 
thome rejoicing for the grace and love of God." 

CTc© walk with God implies a man of prayer. We would mo! 
feel much pleasure in walking with one with whom we could 
not converse. Now, prayer is just talking with God. When 
the two disciples had that delightful walk on the way to Em- 
maus, their sweetest recollection of it was recorded in the 
words, " Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked 
wifh u^ by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures." 



E.N'OCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 3^ 

This is so still. The happiest part of the Christian's journey, 
and the part that he will look back upon with the greatest de- 
light, will be the hours spent in converse with God. He knows 
that he has sent requests to God, and that he has got back 
answers from him. He needs no labored argument to prove to 
him the existence of God any more than he needs to have his 
own existence proved. He is in daily communication with the 
Father of Spirits ; and the secret of the Lord is with him. He 
constantly asks and receives. 

The Rev. Dr. Murray gives us an illustration of this. He 
says : " There was among my people a man in middle life, a 
German by birth, and a remarkably simple-hearted, pure- 
minded Christian. Whoever was absent, he was always pres- 
ent at the place of prayer. One evening early in December,, 
as I was about retiring to rest, I heard a knock at my door, 
and my German friend was introduced, his countenance full 
of emotion. On taking his seat, his first words were these : 
' My dear pastor, I have come to tell you that the Lord is 
about to revive his work here.' Surprised at his appearance 
and language, and at the lateness of his visit, I asked him,. 
'Why do you think so ?* He replied as follows : ' About eight 
o'clock this evening, I went up to my hay-mow to give hay to. 
my cattle, and while there the Spirit of God came upon me,, 
and has kept me there praying until now. I feel that God is. 
about to revive his work, and I could not go into my family 
until I told you.' The entire simplicity and earnestness of 
the good man convinced me that God had vouchsafed to visit 
his servant. After some conversation we parted, mutually 
agreeing to pray and labor for a revival of religion, and to 
engage as many as we could to do the same." 

The revival did come, and that with much power. The 
prayer- meetings became crowded and very solemn. The 
Spirit of God accompanied the preaching on Sabbath ; and a 
mighty ingathering of souls was given„ in answer to that pre- 
vailing prayer in the hay-mow. 

A poor colored woman, in Ohio, sat in the corner of the 
gallery in the house of God on the Sabbath ; and she would 



34 



THE WORLD'S HOPE, 



single out some young man and continue to pray for him, till 
she saw him come forward and join the church. Then she 
would take up the case of another, and another, till in the 
course of some years, twenty young men for whom she had 
thus prayed, but with whom she was not personally acquainted, 
were brought to Christ. No one knew what she was doing ; 
but she disclosed the fact to her pastor on her death-bed. 
Many of that congregation might have been ashamed to walk 
with that humble child of God ; but the Lord of all worlds was 
not ashamed of her, but gave her the holy privilege of the 
sweetest fellowship and communion with Himself. 

As a man, Jesus was constant in prayer. He is a bright ex- 
ample to us of what it is to walk with God. He often retired 
for converse with his Father, even spending whole nights in 
this way. He was always in the spirit of prayer, often praying 
silently when in the midst of a throng. This is clear from what 
he said at the grave of Lazarus : " I thank thee, O Father, 
that thou hast heard me. And I know that thou hearest me 
always; but because of those that stand by I said it." Jesus 
had been praying there right in that crowd, but they had not 
heard his prayer, nor seen any signs of his praying, until they 
heard the expression of his thanks for being heard. Thus in 
the crowded street, in the steamboat or the rushing railroad 
car, in the counting-room or the work-shop, the Christian can 
keep up his walk with God and his converse with heaven. The 
holy McCheyne sair , " It is best to have one hour alone ivith 
(7^^ before engaging in anything else. At the same time, I 
must be careful not to reckon communion with God by min- 
utes, or hours, or by solitude." 

Of that dear servant of God, whose words T have just quoted, 
his biographer says, "With him the commencement of all 
labor invariably consisted in the preparation of his own soui. 
The forerunner of each day's visitations was a calm season of 
private devotion during morning hours. The walls of his 
chamber were witnesses of his prayerfulness — I believe of his 
tears as well as of his cries. The pleasant sound of psalms often 
ijsued from his room at an early hour ; then followed the 



ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 

\eading of the Word for his own sanctification ; and few have 
so fully realized the blessing of the first psalm." 

Dear reader, can there be any thing nobler, any thing 
more blessed and desirable than such a walk as this? How 
paltry the honor of walking with kings and nobles, and the 
greatest of earth's sons, compared to this? James Janeway, 
writing of his brother John, says: "I once hid myself, that I 
might take the more exact notice of the intercourse that I 
judged was kept up between him and God. But oh, what a 
spectacle did I see ! Surely, a man walking with God, con- 
versing intimately with his Maker, and maintaining a holy 
familiarity with the great Jehovah. Methought I saw some one 
talking with God. Methought I saw a spiritual merchant in 
a heavenly exchange, driving a rich trade for the treasures of 
another world. Oh, what a glorious sight it was ! Methinks I 
see him still. How sweetly did his face shine ! Oh, with what 
a lovely countenance did he walk up and down — his lips going, 
his body oft reaching up, as if he would have taken his flight 
to heaven ! His looks, smiles, and every motion spake him to 
be upon the very confines of glory. Oh, had one but known 
what he was then feeding upon ! Surely he had meat to eat 
which the world knew not of!" 

It must be evident to all reflecting minds, that a life of walk- 
ing with God must be a happy one. Away from God, man's 
soul is in a state of unrest. Man is not made to find happi- 
ness in himself, or in the world ; but is so constituted that 
neglect of his Creator forms his deepest misery, while His favor 
forms his highest bliss. We are not independent. We cannot 
stand alone. We do not carry around with us a fountain of 
satisfaction and happiness from which we can draw, when 
troubled with the soul's deep cravings after good. It is not in 
the cramped up, narrow circle of our own individuality that we 
can ever find the blessed life ; but only in connection with the 
God and Giver of every perfect gift. The soul is a greater and 
a nobler thing than we think. It is not mere things that can 
satisfy it. Try to fill it with honors, titles, riches, and the vast- 
est material possessions, and it resents the result by enlarging 



36 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

Still more the boundary of its desires. Man is a spirit, and 
nothing can give him rest, peace, satisfaction, but the love of 
the Father of spirits, — the living God himself. 

When the soul is drawn away from the Great Central object 
of its love and adoration, God himself, it is left to wander in 
darkness and uncertainty ; life gets divided up into a hun- 
dred different objects and pursuits, each promising much in the 
way of happiness, but giving nothing in the end ; the chase 
after each new idol becomes hot and eager, till it is found to 
be a cheat and a lie ; and then comes the reaction of grief and 
disappointment, when the heart almost despairs of ever finding 
a resting place, and gives utterance to its yearnings in the cry„ 
*' O, who will show us any good !" Then the great danger is„ 
that the soul will sink down into a stupid indifference as to the 
great duties of life — a dogged, sullen silence of the heart, in 
which but little is feared and little hoped for ,• and which re- 
minds one of the horrid, unnatural stillness that falls upon the 
doomed city through which the plague rages, and which little 
disturbs but the rattle of the dead-cart on its dreaded round 
of duty. 

Happy is the man, who, feeling his soul restless as the heav- 
ing, turbulent sea, and satisfied that none but God can give 
him rest, turns to Him with his whole heart. Leaving the 
world's vanities behind, he grasps by faith eternal realities ; 
and knows that in finding God through Christ, he has found all 
his soul can need. His mind then becomes calm as the little 
lake I have seen surrounded with hills, secure from the tempests 
that beat upon the mountain's brow, and reflecting from its 
tranquil bosom all that was fair and lovely in the heavens 
above. In God's love you will find a peace that will flow on 
and on like a river. His presence will give vigor to all your 
powers, strengthen all your feebleness, satisfy all your cravings 
after a higher life, ennoble your immortality, and with all His 
unspeakable perfection, become your portion for ever. 

It is often the excuse of worldly minds, when urged to high 
attainments in piety, that they have so many of the active duties 
of life to attend to, the care of providing for a largo family, 



ENOCH. THE HEAVENLY WALK. 37 

the toil of working for those dependent upon them, that they 
have little time for walking with Ood. Hut Enoch was the 
father of a family of children, and yet his soul soared heaven- 
ward, and hence gathered fresh strength for the duties of earth. 
It is a delusion to think that we must retire from the active 
duties of life and from its responsibilities, in order to be very 
pious characters. People have thought if they could retire 
to some still, sequestered spot, where they would have noth- 
ing to do but to pray and read and meditate upon Divine 
things, they could live an uncommonly holy life. They for- 
get that religion does not consist of certain mental processes 
and high wrought moral feelings, but in obeying God ; and in 
obeying Him where he puts us, not where we choose to put 
ourselves. Our religion is to show itself in seeking to make 
the world better, not in running away from it ; in conquering 
difficulties that lie in the Avay of duty, not in fleeing from the 
duty to avoid the difficulty ; in keeping ourselves unspotted 
from the world while in it, not by going out of it; in short, in 
working for God where the work is hardest and most needed ; 
in fighting the battles of truth where the conflict rages the 
fiercest; in seeking not our own ease and enjoyment by a life 
of solitude and concentration of thought upon our own states and- 
frames and feelings ; but by mingling with the great mass of 
humanity, in deepest sympathy with Him who came to seek and 
to save the lost. 

The piety of Enoch led to deeds of active and self-denying 
zeal. He did not set down in pleasant meditation, seeking 
only his own happiness and enjoyment, and leaving the wicked 
around him to perish. He was a faithful preacher of righteous- 
ness. He warned men to flee from the wrath to come. He 
preached Christ unto them. This we learn from Jude, who 
says : " And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied 
of these, saying. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of 
his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all 
that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which 
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches 
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." What more 



38 THE world's hope. 

pointed and searching truths could be uttered in the ears of 
sinners than these which this good man uttered ? There was 
no yielding to fear of man ; no seeking of their favor instead 
of their souls ; no shrinking from bringing out the whole testi- 
mony of God. He came from pleading with the Lord to plead 
with his fellow-men. His intercourse with Jehovah imparted 
to him courage which earth nor hell could shake. 

" He was not, for God took him." His work on earth was 
ended. He was ripe for glory. Angels longed for his society, 
and the faithful who had preceded him to glory stood in joy- 
ous expectation to give him a welcome. Without going through 
the sufferings of a death-bed, of days and nights of languor 
and pain, God took him home. There, free from a sinning 
heart and a sinning world, he could walk with God in the per- 
fection of holiness. That walk is still continued as the ages 
roll on ; and as from age to age he has seen vast numbers of 
blood-washed souls added to the sinless congregation, doubt- 
less his gratitude to the God of all grace has increased, and his 
sonjg attained to a loftier rapture , 

"On we haste, to home invited. 
There with friends to be united 

In a surer bond than hei-e ; 
Meeting soon, and met for ever ! 
Glorious Hope ! forsake us never. 

For thy glimmering light is dear." 

" In that fair land shall disappear 
The shadows which we follow here, 
The mist-wreaths of our atmosphere." 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 39 



CHAPTER III. 

NOAH — A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

It is of the very nature of sin to spread like a deadly lep- 
rosy. Though in the days of Noah the world was but yet in 
the very infancy of its being, yet sin had deepened and widened 
as it rolled along its dark course ; till hatred of law and truth 
and goodness had become almost universal. The wickedness 
of man had grown to gigantic and fearful proportions. That 
guilty race were deluged in sin before they were deluged in the 
waters of the flood. Had they not been first buried under the 
accumulated pollution of their guilt, they would not have been 
engulphed in the avenging waters. 

In the midst of such an appalling disregard of God, Noah 
stands up before us a noble spectacle. His simple and child- 
like faith, and his unflinching and persevering obedience are 
truly sublime. There is exhibited holy integrity in the midst 
of universal corruption , an unwavering adherence to right, 
when it was the object of popular contempt and scorn ; the 
fullest recognition of God's supreme right to govern and to be 
obeyed, when all had sunk into unbelief, and revolted against 
His laws. It is only when men are brought into circumstances 
that test and try them thoroughly, that we know what they are 
We are told that the man who is tried is blessed ; and the 
more severe the trial the more glorious is the triumph of Di- 
vine grace when it brings him off unscathed. And to every 
man there comes his testing time — his time of trial ; and the 
worse the state of society around him, the more conspicuous 
becomes the integrity of the man that stands boldly up for 
God. Thus Noah stood like a rock amidst the swelling torrent 
of abounding sin around him, and not for a moment was the 
purity of his purpose shaken. There he stood, a true, faithful, 



4© THE WORLDS liOPE. ^ 

unbending witness for God ; his meekness under insult ; his 
deep piety shining bright in its solitude ; and his undaunted 
heroism, exciting our warmest admiration. To thus stand 
faithful among the faithless requires something more than a 
niere religion of form or ceremony ; it requires the power of 
(iod's mighty grace rooted in the deepest depths of our souls, 
and a firm hold upon God's truth which the rudest shocks of 
time can never relax. 

Noah, in the course of God's providence, was made a public 
man — a representative man — whose footsteps were to leave deep 
prints upon the sands of time. But, for his public work he got 
all his strength and power in secret communion with God. It 
is in the depth of his devotion that we are to find all the source 
of his fidelity to the public interests committed to his care. If 
he was a man of power it was because he was a man ot prayer. 
He fought a good fight; but it was because he was clad in ar- 
mor burnished in the light of heaven. His trust was in God — 
a trust that was not disappointed, — for the same waves of deso- 
lation that brought destruction to the wicked, only floated him 
nearer to his gracious Friend. All external to him was uproar 
and confusion, but all within him was the sweet calm of God's 
peace. He found a safe retreat, a holy repose, m the center of 
all life and blessedness — the favor of Almighty ].ove. And 
though his lot was cast upon evil times he found a sweet calm^ 
a holy pavilion, under the shadow of the eternal throne. 
What though the whole world was against him, when he had 
this testimony from the lips of Jehovah, " Thee have I seen 
righteous before me in this generation !" 

Noah was a man of strong faith. He was warned of God of 
a coming event, not likely to take- place so far as human wis- 
dom could see. For centuries the laws of nature had rolled 
on in their undisturbed and placid course The seasons had 
come and gone in regular succession. Ram had fallen only to 
bless the earth. The rivers and brooks had borne their waters 
safely to the sea ; and that vast world of waters had been kept 
in place by the fixed decree, " Hitherto shalt thou go and no 
farther." Men began to speak about the fixed laws of Nature, 



NOAH. A PRFACKF.R OF RI<; H I FOUSNFSS. 41 

and then, as now, felt as if they were so y/xct/ that (xod himselt 
could not change them. It is no new thing for men to wish to 
make (jod the slave of his own laws ; and to argue that things 
which God has said shall be done, because they will interfere 
with the law^ of nature. No doubt there were some of these 
very people in those days, who sought to sh«w how impossible 
it was that a flood could take place, and laughed to scorn the 
warnings of the man of God, as the ravings of fanaticism; as 
they intrenched themselves behind what they called the laws of 
nature. But Noah firmly and implicity believed God. The 
Lord had said it ; and that was enough for him. The argu- 
ments of the philosoi)hers were no more to him than the chirp- 
ing of grasshoppers, when the voice of eternal Wisdom was 
sounding in his ears. 

Hut it appears that Noah's faith in the first place operated 
h\ fear. " By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not 
seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of 
his hotise." Some people think that if a man has any fears, it 
is a sure proof that he has no faith. But this is a mistake , 
for faith often intensifies fear. When the sinner honestly be- 
lieves the threatenings of God's law, it drives him to Ghrist. 
When a man believes himself in danger of drowning he takes 
a firm grasp of the rope that is flung to him. John Bunyan 
says, " I was brought into such a dread and horror of the wrath 
of God that I could not help trusting in Christ; I felt that if 
he stood with a drawn sword in his hand I must even run right 
upon its i)oint sooner than endure my sins." If fear was to 
have no ])art in man's turning to God, why has God put so 
many terrors in the Bible.' Why did one say, in view of the 
danger of sinners, " Horror hath taken hold upon me, because 
of the wicked that forsake thy laws".' Why did Paul say, 
"Knowing the terrors of the Lord we pursuade men".' No 
doubt the great ])ower of the Gospel is love ; but it also utters 
its stern voice of terror in the words, " He that believeth not 
shall be damned !" 

On this subject Dr. (Uithrie says, 'Hiod indeed tells us of 
hell, but it is to persuade us to go to heaven ; and, as a skillful 



42 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

painter fills the background of his picture with his darker col- 
ors, God puts in the smoke of torment and the black clouds of 
Sinai, to give brighter prominence to Jesus, the cross of Cal- 
vary, and his love to the chief of sinners. His voice of terror 
is like the scream of the mother bird when the hawk is in the 
sky. She alarms ^er brood that they may run and hide 
beneath her feathers ; and as I believe that God had left that 
mother dumb unless he had given her wings to cover her little 
ones, I am sure that He who is very pitiful, and has no pleas- 
ure in any creature's pain, had never turned our eyes to the 
horrible gulf unless for the voice that cries, ' Deliver from go- 
ing down to the pit, for I have found a ransom.' We had never 
heard of sin had there been no Saviour ; nor of hell had there 
been no heaven. ' Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof; ' 
and never had Bible light been flashed before the eyes or the 
sleeping felon to wake him from his happy dream, but that he 
might see the smiling form of Mercy, and hear her as she says, 
with pointing finger, ' Behold, I have set before thee an open 
door.' " 

, Noah's faith produced obedience; and this is always the 
case with true faith. He did not sit down and make excuses, 
instead of going to work upon the ark, as he was commanded. 
He might have urged the great labor and expense of building 
such a huge vessel ; that he was no sailor, and that manned 
only by himself and sons, she would be quite unmanageable ; 
that so many animals brought together would devour each, and 
destroy his family ; but it is not the nature of faith to stagger 
at God's word. When God commands us to do anything, that 
is the highest evidence that he will give us strength to do it, if 
we honestly set about obeying his word. A great trial to his 
faith must have been the length of time that elapsed from his 
receiving the warning till the penalty was inflicted. In great 
forbearance God waited for a hundred and twenty years ; 
waited so long that men turned his very patience into an occa- 
sion of scorn. As the ark went up in its proportions; as plank 
after plank was added, and still no cloud api)eared in the heav- 
ens as a token of anything unusual about to take place, thc^ 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 43 

wicked doubtless made themselves merry at the expense of this 
fanatical preacher, as they would call him. The very men that 
assisted him at his work would likely beguile their toil with 
many a joke at his folly. But there was to be an end to all 
this. The day of doom came slowly but surely. God does 
not need to be in a hurry in carrying out his purposes ; for He 
is from everlasting to everlasting. 

All this time Noah's faith does not seem to have wavered. 
His trust in God was strong. We are told of Alexander the 
Great, that on one occasion he was sick and his physician had 
prepared him a potion. A short time before he had received 
a warning letter, telling him that this very potion was to con- 
tain poison. When the physician came with the medicine, to 
show how much he trusted him, what perfect confidence he had 
in his faithfulness, he took the ctip and drank it off; while at 
the same time he handed him the letter. He thus trusted his 
life to his physician, so great was his faith in him. The faith 
of the believer thus confides in God, however dark the sur- 
roundings. He says, '' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in 
him." I have often thought of faith in the soul when, looking 
at a ship's compass. The ship might be tossing ever so much,, 
and the restless sea heaving, and the waves rolling beneath her ; 
but the compass still keeps its place and maintains its level. 
Plunge and toss here and there the ship might, but with tremb- 
ling eagerness the needle always pointed to the pole. So is 
faith in the soul of the believer. Cares like a wild deluge might 
come, and his frail vessel be driven by fierce winds ; but faith 
steadily turns to God — to Him who can rebuke the tempest and 
make a great calm. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
whose mind is stayed upon thee." O how miserable are they 
who have no trust in God, no principle of holy confidence to 
comfort them amid the trials of life ! . Wretched their living 
and their dying. When Rachel, the famous tragic actress, was 
dying, she ordered all her jewls and trinkets to be brought to 
her bed-side. They were souvenirs which she had received 
from nearly all the crowned heads of Europe, and others of 
her admirers : and therefore reminded her of some of her most 



44 I'HE WORLD'S HOPE. 

brilliant triumphs. But they CvOuld give no comfort to the poor 
soul on the verge of eternity. She exclaimed : " Why have I 
to part with all this so soon .?" and expired. This Queen of 
Tragedy, as she was called, dying without God and hope, is a 
sad evidence of how little the world can do for its worshipers. 
There is a wail of bitter despair in the last words, or among 
the last that she ever wrote : " In a week from now I shall begin 
to be devoured by the worms and the biographers." 

The faith of Noah led him to an impartial obedience. " He 
did according to all that the Lord commanded him." He did 
not pick and choose among the commands and precepts of the 
Lord; obeying some and rejecting others, according as they 
suited his notions, his prejudices, or his interests. This is al- 
ways a fruit of true faith. It asks, '' Lord, what wouldst thou 
have me to do .?" and as soon as»it knows the Master's will it is 
prepared to do it, whatever hardship or sacrifice it may involve. 
We must be careful and conscientious in our search for the 
path of duty, and then be prompt in following it. When the 
Indians in our forests are in pursuit of an object upon which 
they have set their hearts, see how careful they are to discover 
the path or trail. They will get down upon their knees to ex- 
amine every little bent twig, every faint foot-print upon the 
grass or the withered leaves, every slight indication of the path 
they should take ; and when satisfied, away they go with in- 
creased speed. If Christians would get upon their knees and 
study their Bibles to know God's will, with the same eagerness 
and diligence, they would not neglect so many duties, and turn 
into so many forbidden paths as they do. A good man once 
made the remark, that religion in its beginning interests us al- 
most entirely about ourselves ; that in its progress it engages us 
about our fellow-men ; but that in its advancefd stages it leads 
us to consult in all things the glory and honor of God. This 
is what the faith of Noah led to, and what strong faith always 
leads to. As good old Flavel says, " Faith is the means of our 
spiritual livelihood and subsistence ; all the other graces, like 
birds in a nest, depend upon what faith brings in to them. It 
jnovides our ordinary food, and our extraordinary cordials.* 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 45 

It is said of Noah, that by his faith and his consistent action, 
" he condemned the world." This he did not only as a preacher 
of righteousness, but as a holy, consistent servant of the true 
God. Had he not uttered one word, every nail he drove in 
the ark would have been a condemning sound to the ungodly. 
As they saw him going to a'nd fro about his work ; as they saw 
how calmly and bravely he bore himself under their insults ; 
and how meekly he lifted up his eyes to God for help when un- 
der peculiar troubles; it was a condemning power to their 
guilty consciences. It said, " God is true, though every man 
prove false; and upon his word I respose." In like manner 
sinners are still condemned by everything around them that 
speaks of God. The return of the holy Sabbath ; the sound 
of the church-going bell ; the open door of the sanctuary ; the 
sight ot the neglected Bible lying upon the shelf; the sound 
of prayer and praise floating to his ear from a neighbor's fam- 
ily altar ; the sight of a holy man passing on the street ; all 
speak with condemning emphasis to the guilty heart. They 
tell him of time wasted, privileges neglected, a precious soul 
degraded, and God insulted. 

But the hour of vengeance has at last come. The elements 
of nature, at the voice of their Creator assume a gloomy aspect 
and come armed with destruction. It requires no great stretch 
of imagination to think of Noah now making his last appeal to 
the guilty, with trembling voice, quivering lips, and tearful eyes ; 
nor to think of them turning away from him with louder scoffs 
and deeper insults than ever before. But Hark ! what is that 
sound that arrests their departing footsteps ? It is the door of 
the ark being shut, not by the hand of Noah nor by any of his 
family, but by the same hand that planted the stars in their or- 
bits and that launches the thunderbolt, "And the Lord shut 
him in." Now hope is dead ; the last golden opportunity past ; 
the last appeal of love made; even God's great forbearance 
with that vile race is exhausted, and swift destruction cometh 
among them. As the waters rise higher and higher, sullenly 
and remorsely chasing the fleeing sinners to the highest moun- 
•ains. no doubt conscience, from a lethargy deep and death- 



46 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

like, sprung up into life and uttered its solemn denunciations. 
And as they are compelled to abandon the last spot that prom- 
ised any safety ; and looked abroad, as one says, " upon a 
shoreless ocean, that from the center to the streaming poles, 
tumbled round the globe;" how gladly would they have list- 
ened to one more offer of mercy from Noah's lips, or had him 
offer for them one prayer for mercy. But it is now for ever too 
late. The sweet voice of mercy was hushed amid the stern 
and imperative demands of justice. 

Meantime how safe and secure was Noah under the protec- 
tion of the Almighty ! After the Lord shut the door, his foes 
were all left behind him and all was peace within. He was 
now the guest of his heavenly Friend who would permit no 
evil to befall him. A Divine hand was now upon the helm ; 
an All Wise Pilot had now charge of the vessel freighted with 
the hope of a world. I lately read a thrilling narrative of a 
ship rescued from the jaws of destruction by the firmness and 
wisdom of a good pilot. All the canvass she could bear he 
spread to the gale, and amid the silence of an awful suspense 
he drove her close up to the foaming breakers, till all trembled 
in fear of instant destruction. Then at the right moment, 
quick as thought, he put the ship on another tack, till she ap- 
proached two dark, threatening rocks, nearer and nearer, till 
the sea was boiling like a cauldron under her bows ; but safely 
she passed between the rocks, and again headed toward the 
foaming breakers. This time she was permitted to approach 
so close that it seemed impossible she could be saved ; but 
again, a! the right moment, he turned the laboring and strain- 
ing ship safely ; and soon had her lying in the calm harbor. 
And no sooner was the order given to let go the anchor, than 
the captain sprang forward and caught the pilot in his arms ; 
the sailors and passengers rushed up to express their gratitude ; 
some hanging around his neck, some shaking his hands, some 
embracing his knees, while tears streamed over the weather- 
beaten faces of men that had braved untold dangers. 

So we have a good Pilot who will guide us in the right way 
to the harbor of rest. It may seem to irs, at times, as if we 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 47 

were being driven upon the rocks of destruction ; but that is 
because of our ignorance and unbelief. When the lights of our 
households go out one after another, and sadness and desolation 
gather around our hearthstones ; when health fails, and busi- 
ness fails, and friends fail, and all around us seems hopeless ; 
it may, for the moment, seem as if the Pilot had deserted us, 
and was letting our frail bark be the sport of chance, the play- 
thing of the tempest; but it is not so. Above the hoarse roar 
of the storm comes the cheering voice, " It is I, be not afraid." 
As the devoted Judson said, " Every cup stirred by the finger 
of God becomes sweet to the humble believer." O believer, 
faint not, fear not, for the harbor is just in sight ! You will 
soon cast your anchor within the veil, amid peace and eternal 
rest. 

Noah's household shared the blessings conferred upon him, 
" Come, thou and all thy house, into the ark." It is true, reli- 
gion is not a hereditary, but a personal matter. The piety of 
the parent cannot suffice for the child ; and yet there are un-. 
told privileges connected with a godly parentage. Infinitely 
better to have a father rich in faith, than rich in money ; with 
treasure laid up in heaven, than perishable treasure laid up 
upon earth. To have the fervent prayer of a righteous parent 
uttered over our cradle ; the memory of a holy, pious home 
that sheltered our early years ; and the recollection of the con- 
sistent, saintly lives of the loved on.es who watched over oui 
childhood's weakness, to carry through life with us; is infinitely 
better than to have riches, honors and titles descend to us, 
with the remembrance of a godless youth, and the dreadful 
curse of a neglected soul. There are multitudes to-day in 
heaven, who were brought to Jesus in answer to the prayers of 
pious parents ; and now united families, safe from the storms 
and dangers of life, they engage in the sinless worship of 
eternity. 

Parents, are you trying to take your offspring to the ark of 
safety along with you .^ A minister tells us that when on a 
preaching tour at Inverness, Scotland, he was called upon to 
visit the cell of a murderer condemned to death. He found 



46 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

him loaded with chains, and sitting upon a pallet of straw. He 
could not get the wretched man to look np, nor to answer a 
single question. When the minister asked if he wished prayer 
to be offered for him, he muttered his consent. The criminal's 
mother had been to see him only a few hours before, and to 
her he said, " Mother, if it had not been for you, I should not 
have been here!" She replied, "I'm sure I never told you to 
do any harm." With bitter emphasis he rejoined, "/ a7n sure 
you never told me to do atiy goody What a dreadful reproach 
was this to that mother, and how like a dagger it must have 
pierced her heart ! It is not enough that the parent teaches no 
wrong, he must give early and timely religious instruction ; 
made pointed and practical by a holy life. 

The children of the pious are in great danger of hardening 
their hearts under their privileges. When our very familiarity 
with solemn truth and eternal things makes us indifferent to 
j;hem, it is a fearful sign of coming damnation. If one of 
^(oah's children had said, " I am sick and tired of hearing 
;ab®«t this flood, and of the sight of that old ark ; 1 believe it 
is onjy a delusion of father's brain ; and I mean to pay no at- 
tention to what he says, and live as other people around me 
do," this would have been a sure sign of an abandoned soul, 
lost to all good ; and such an one would have sunk in the angry 
-waters under a load of aggravated guilt, enough to sink a 
•world. Only think of sinking into hell, of spending eternity 
\wiuh the recollection of a mother's prayers and a father's in- 
structions wrapped up in the soul; and counting over innu- 
merable opportunities of salvation enjoyed but neglected, if 
not despised. 

Let us now seek to draw some lessons from the narrative of 
Noah's life. 

First, we learn that God's, goodness, his long forbearance, 
and his gracious Fatherhood, will not hinder him from punish- 
ing incorrigible sinners. Some would represent God's love as 
being of such a nature as to exclude all punishment of sin, all 
acts of his impartial justice. This arises from low thoughts of 
God's character. They measure God by themselves and 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 49 

reason as to what he ought, to do, from what they think they 
would do themselves. This is an old mistake of humanity, 
and God takes notice of it. with high disapprobation. "Thou 
thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself." He 
alone can tell the evil of sin as committed against infinite 
purity; as contempt poured upon a perfectly holy law and 
d righteous authority. It is not for us to dictate to God what 
he ought or ought not to do. We are criminals in his holy 
sight, and when the criminal criticises the law that condemns 
him and calls it too strict and its penalty too severe, the wise 
judge does not much regard such utterances. In no govern- 
ment is it left to those who have broken the law to say what 
their punishment is to be. God is our Creator, our Preserver, 
our Benefactor. All that we have, all that we enjoy, every 
avenue of pleasure that we possess, we owe it all to Him. 
And the evil of a whole life of sin against such a Being is so 
great, that we can no more form an adequate conception of it, 
than we can measure the heavens with a span. 

It is absolute folly, then, to say that God cannot punish the 
wicked with the pains of hell, because he is represented in the 
Bible as the universal Father. God is a moral Governor, as 
well as a Father. He is the great Lawgiver and Judge He 
has holy laws to execute and sin to punish ; and unless he does 
so his government would be at an end, and universal anarchy 
would rage through the universe. It is the merest driveling, 
therefore, to object to the punishment of hell, as revealed in 
the Bible, by saying, " Could a loving father see his child in 
torment, and yet have the power to relieve him, and not do 
so .'" God can do many things in infinite justice that it would 
be wrong for us to do. It would have been wrong for Noah 
to have drowned one of those scoffers that mocked at him ; but 
God drowned a world. It would have been wrong for J.ot to 
have destroyed his sons-in-law; but God did it in strict jus- 
tice. It would be wrong for us to set fire to a neighbor's house, 
to a ship at sea, or to a city, knowing the dreadful suffering 
that must ensue ; but God in his providence does this, or 
permits it to be done, and who can impugn his righteous ways <^ 



5© THE WORLD S HOPE. 

It would be wrong for any man to undermine a neighbor's 
house, so that he and his family would be buried in the ruins ; 
but God sends his earthquakes rumbling through the deep 
foundations of nature, and buries thousands in the debris. Is 
not God, therefore, a God of love ? Certainly he is ; but he 
has a vast universe to govern in justice and wisdom ; and 
never do we act more absurdly than when we undertake to 
judge of Him by ourselves. 

Another lesson we may learn is, that God has provided an 
ark of safety for sinners now, into which they may flee and be 
safe. There is a New Testament ark as well as an Old Testament 
one. We, like Noah, are warned of God of coming judg- 
ments. We are told of a day of vengeance, a day of wrath, 
that is sure to come upon the ungodly. The Lord is coming 
in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, 
and that obey not the Gospel. And because in infinite mercy 
he delays his coming, to give the world a longer space for re- 
pentance, sinners infer from this that he is not coming at all. 
In the public papers, and in every haunt of sin, as well as in 
many of the halls of science, so called, men curl their lips with 
scorn at the warnings given them, and utter many a jest, and 
pen many a witty paragraph, at the expense of those who warn 
them of the coming King and the coming doom. But this is 
nothing new. It is as old as sin. It is false as the father of 
lies. It ruined the old world ; it will ruin you. 

Sinner ! I invite you to an ark of safety. You do not re- 
quire to build it, it is built already. You do not need to wait 
one moment, it is finished and perfect. To enter it is no 
doubtful experiment, for it has already saved millions ; it can 
save you. That ark is the atonement of the Lord Jesus. The 
moment you enter it you will have peace and assurance. You 
will kno7v that you are safe. Did not Noah feel confident that 
he was safe wlien God shut him in .? Some professing Chris- 
tians walk in doubt and uncertainty, and call it humility. They 
grope in the darkness of unbelief, and then give their doubts 
and tormenting fears a holy name ; thus calling their evil good. 
But the Gospel does not, by a single word, encourage doubt or 



NOAH. A PREACHER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 5I 

uncertainty. It brings, when believed, not trouble, but peace ; 
not anxiety but rest. It enables the soul to come and claim 
his sonship, and to take his place joyfully in the family of God. 
A missionary in India once knelt beside a dying man, whom 
he supposed was still in the darkness of heathenism, and 
whispered in'his ear, "What is your hope?" The dying man, 
with a great effort, said : " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth 
from all sin." Having uttered these words, he laid down his 
head and died. The missionary wondered where he could 
have got this knowledge ; but as he looked at the body he saw 
a piece of paper grasped tightly in one of the hands. It was 
carefully taken out, and proved to be a single leaf of the 
Bible on which the above words were found. This precious 
soul had found the ark of safety. 

There is room for all in that ark. None need stay away be- 
cause they are sinners. It was for such it was made. Our 
sins are our only qualification to enter it. Our only merit is 
our demerit. You may know all about this ark, but that will 
not save you. You may go round it and be able to tell its 
dimensions and count every plank ; but only those who are in 
the ark are to be saved. O sinner, enter now ! The Judge is 
at the door. Already we can hear the sound of his chariot- 
wheels. Convulsions and revolutions, uproar and confusion 
among the nations of the earth, herald his approach. 

Noah's ark landed him safely on Mount Ararat, but the ark 
of salvation will land us on the Mount of Glory. There, amid 
scenes of unimagined blessedness, we shall look over the way 
that the Lord has led us ; and in that blessed city, that heaven- 
ly Jerusalem, that metropolis of the universe, praise God forever 
for our happy and blood-bought home. • 

"If my bark be strong, 

If my anchor sure, 
Then let billow upon billow beat. 

Am I not secure ? 
On the dreariest, wildest sea, 
What are winds to me ? 



THE world's hope. 52 

"Up between the stars 

Spreads night's tranquil bhie ; 
Not one ruffle, not one wrinkle there 

Blots the changeless hue, 
Storms of earth for earth are given ; 
But they reach not heaven I" 



ABRAHAM, THE FRIEND OF GOD. 53 



CHAPTER IV. 

* ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OF GOD. 

" This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our 
faith." The world has become the seat of sin, a mass of pollu- 
tion, and therefore, the enemy of God and the soul of man. 
The world lieth in wickedness, and is not to be loved, nor 
yielded to by the Christian, but to be overcome. His position 
towards it is to be one of war ; of keen, stern, relentless antag- 
onism. He must either overcome it, or it will overcome him. 
Fight he must ; and there can be no peace, not even a truce, 
till a complete victory enables him to lay his armor by. 

Now, the conquering principle in this conflict is faith. Weak 
and feeble it may be, but if it is the right kind, that which 
comes from God, it will take hold of the strength of God, and 
can never be conquered. A wild and furious tempest may 
destroy the light-house, which is only man's work; but it can- 
not extinguish the lights which God's own hand has hung up 
in the heavens. The man who sets about conquering the 
tvorld in the strength of his own resolution, or his intellectual 
might, or with science or knowledge, will soon find himself 
lying among the heaps of its slain and vanquished . victims. 
But he who goes into the field with the shield of faith, comes 
off more than conqueror. Nothing more than faith is needed ; 
and nothing less will do. We might have armies of vast mul- 
titude, and navies of massive power, to fight for us ; but their 
aid would avail us nothing in this conflict. Even an angel- 
host could not help us here. Faith alone can make us invinci- 
ble, and enable us to stand in the evil day steadfast and im- 
movable. 

It is not in itself that faith has such an all overcoming 
power. Its power consists in the fact, that it places us under 



54 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

the protection of Jehovah. " Trust in the Lord forever," it 
says ; " for in the Lord Jehovah there is everlasting strength." 
Faith, then, teaches us to lean on his strength, to trust his arm, 
to shelter under his power, and to draw all our comfort from 
his promises. No wonder, then, that it has such potency in the 
conflict with the world ; for " if God be for us, who can be 
against us?" The sister of Mathew Henry, the commentator, 
had the following entry in her diary : " Resolved to call 
nothing mine but God." There is where faith takes its firm 
holds, and all the convulsions of earth cannot shake them off. 

We come now to consider the life of a man remarkable for 
his faith ; Abraham, the father of the faithful. In him we may 
see faith, not as a mere abstraction, but embodied in a living 
form, in the person of a man of like passions with ourselves, 
and encompassed with uncommon trials ; and yet confiding in 
God in the darkest hour. His faith was not confined to great 
occasions ; it was not dependent upon the gaze of the world, nor 
the applause of men ; it reached its most sublime height v.hen 
alone with God in the darkness of the. night, listening to a 
command that must have thrilled his whole being. Indeed, 
his faith grew by the severity of the trials to which it was sub- 
jected. It has often been a cause of wonder, that good men, those 
who were very near and very dear to God, men like Abraham, 
that the Lord in gracious condescension called friend, should 
yet be the objects of such terrible trials. But that is one of 
God's ways of purifying them, and making them distinguished 
examples of his grace. 

And though no amount of holy intimacy with God, no at- 
tainments in piety, no Christian graces, however brilliant, can 
exempt us from trials as long as we are in this world ; there 
comes along with them the promise, " All things shall work to- 
gether for good to them that love God." This is very com- 
prehensive. Things bright and things dark ; events that seem 
to smile upon us with prosperity, and those that frown with 
adversity ; periods of sunshine and happiness, and then dark 
days and starless nights; things that seem to bless and things 
that seem to curse; all shall work for our good. Abraham, 



ABRAHAM PREPARIXU TO OFFER UP ISAAC. 



ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OF GOD. 55 

living amid such a dark dispensation, and yet showing such a 
strong faith, should make us ashamed of our unbelief and 
cause the prayer to leap from our lips, '' Lord, increase our 
faith." 

The first striking instance of Abraham's faith that we are 
called upon to notice, is the call to leave his home and 
kindred, and go forth not knowing whither he went. " By faith 
Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he 
should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and he w^ent 
out, not knowing whither he went." This man of God was 
now seventy-five years of age, and had no doubt formed many 
warm attachments in his native land, that it would require 
great sacrifices to give up. But his confidence in God led him 
to obey the Divine call at once. He did not sit still and ask 
questions about the land that he was promised. He did not 
ask if it was a fertile country, with a salubrious climate, and 
abundance of cattle upon its hills, and plenty of precious ores 
in its mines .^ He did not ask if the scenery was beautiful and 
picturesque ? It was enough for him, that God bid him go, 
assured that there is no place so safe nor so happy for a man 
as the place where God would have him to be. 

God often makes such calls upon his people now, not 
in an audible voice from the heavens, but by his Word and his 
providences. Whenever duty to God and to truth recjuire us to 
leave family and friends, the most lucrative business or profes- 
sion, all that is pleasant and profitable, we should obey at once. 
Of course, we should not yield to mere fanatical impulses or 
romantic notions; but by prayer and the study of the Word of 
God, find out what is duty and resolutely pursue it. Here is 
a young man of decided talent. He has entered upon a busi- 
ness career that in a few years promises him wealth and honors. 
But the call of God comes, to leave all and enter upon the life 
of a missionary. Is he willing to leave home and friends 
wealth and honor, and go to inhospitable climes and among 
rude and barbarous tribes, amid poverty and danger, to ])reach 
Christ crucified } Will he do all this cheerfully and persever- 
ingly, counting his loss his gain, and glorying in his work > 



56 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

If SO, he is actuated by Abraham's faith and shall have his 
reward. 

And the records of the church of God in modern times has 
many such noble examples. Here is a fair daughter of fond 
parents, well educated, upon whom the rough winds of adver- 
sity have not been permitted to blow. She has a home or 
elegance and comfort, and is the center of a large circle of 
loving and loved friends. But God's voice calls her to go from 
home and country and all the refinements of the society in 
which she moves, to dwell in lands of dark heathenism, and 
to endure untold privations and sufferings. And by faith she 
obeys; living only to honor God and leaving her dust in the 
distant land from which her soul triumphantly ascended to 
glory. These are public examples of the power of faith; but 
there are tens of thousands of God's children equally truthful 
and obedient in the walks of private life. 

Abraham's faith had yet another trial to encounter in con- 
nection with his leaving his home. When he got to the land 
promised, he found that the Canaanites were still theie, that it 
was yet a land of great wickedness and idolatry, end that so 
little could he call the land his, that he had even to buy a 
grave in it. Is this the land ilowing with milk and honey, that 
the Lord had spoken of.'' It looked very unlike it, as yet; but 
still he clung to the promise. Faith can afford to wait upon 
(jod. Our prayers and our faith are not always met in the way 
we expected. It is ours to trust ; it is God's to answer in the 
way his sovereign pleasure ^ees best. The father of the faithful 
possesses his soul in patience. He does not wish that he had 
never left the land of the Chaldeans, that he had never left the 
loved scenes of his youth. No, even when trouble after 
trouble came upon him in the strange land, when his father 
died, and the famine brought him to the brink of starvation, 
his trust never seems to have wavered for a moment. 

He does not interpret God's word by God's providences, but 
the reverse of this. And this is a most important point for us 
all. The providences may be dark and puzzling, and some- 
times judging from them we midit think that God was going 



ABRAHAM. THP: KRIKNI) OF OOD. 57 

to give US uj) to the enemy; but faitli looks to the promise and 
knows that the providences are for his good, although he can- 
not now see it. If Job had looked at the promises in the light 
of the providences with which he was encompassed, he would 
have come to the same conclusion as some of his friends, that 
(rod had forsaken him and was now his enemy. But he did 
not do so. He clung to his anchorage on the promises, and 
soon he saw that the (iod of the promises and the God of 
Providence is the same. He may send Abraham into the 
famine, and he may send John to the barren island of Patmos ; 
but he will be there to meet them. '' My presence will go 
with thee, and I will give thee rest." Some one has compared 
faith to a foundation laid dee}) and strong in the Rock of 
ages, and hope as the beautiful tapering spire which rises upon 
that foundation, penetrates the sky, and is illuminated by the 
first beams of the rising, and the last rays of the setting sun. 

After a time the course of Providence with Abraham 
changed, and prosperity took the place of adversity. Riches 
began to pour in upon him. Lot, his nephew, also increased 
in riches. But as riches increase they bring an increase of 
care, and often of sorrow. These two good men, w^ho had 
dwelt together in harmony and comfort in years of hardship 
and trial, were on the verge of being brought into an unseemly 
strife by their increasing possessions. Alas ' in how many 
families have the fires of unholy passion, and envy, and strife, 
broken out in Avords of bitter hatred, even over the dead body 
of a father, about the division of the ])roperty. As my object 
is not to write a life of Abraham, but to notice those points in 
his history in which his faith stands out prominently, I cannot 
dwell here , but only refer to his noble, generous, yielding 
si)irit. as a proof of the heavenly nature of his faith. A living 
faith always brings forth good works and by this alone is its 
divine origin proven. How we admire the kind, tender, judi- 
cious temper of this great man, as he says to Lot, " Let there 
be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, and between 
thy herdmen and my herdmen ; for we be brethren. Is not 
the whole land before thee ? Separate thyself, I pray thee, 



58 THE world's hope. 

from me ; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the 
right , or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to 
the left." 

How easily the flames of a long and unseemly contention 
could have been fanned up on this occasion. An obstinate 
tenaciousness of purpose, a swaggering, self-conceited deter- 
mination to gain the victory, a proud, haughty craving for 
superiority, under the pretense of standing up for just rights, 
could have made of this a life-long quarrel. For want of the 
conciliatory spirit here manifested many a church has been 
rent by division, and the cause of truth made a by-word and a 
reproach among the wicked. " A soft answer turneth away 
wrath ;" and it is the spirit of true religion to be " kindly affec- 
tioned one to another, with brotherly love, in honor prefering 
one another,''' 

But I come now to notice a still more striking proof of 
Abraham's faith. The spirit of faith is always the spirit of 
prayer and intercession. Faith in God will produce converse 
with God and a deep anxiety for perishing souls around us. 

The narrative of Abraham's intercession on behalf of guilty 
Sodom, opens with a lovely picture of hospitality The sun is 
in his noon-day splendor^ and all nature seems to languish in 
his vertical rays. The flocks and their herdsmen seek the 
shade of some lofty over-hanging rock or some broad-leaved 
tree. The father of the faithful is sitting in the door of his 
tent looking out upon the calm face of nature, and with a 
heart at peace with the God on whose works he gazes. A 
hundred years have passed over his head, and have left him 
still active in every good work, and rich in experiente of his, 
Lord's faithfulness. 

He had not sat there long till three men, strangers to him 
as far as he could see, made their appearance. With the alac- 
rity of a young man, and with kind consideration for the 
wants of the strangers, he runs out to meet them and shows 
them the utmost courtesy. With the aid of his good wife an 
ample repast is soon provided for them, as they sit in the 
cooling shade, and he stands respectfully beside them while 



ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OF GOD. 59 

they partake of his hospitality. To some this might seem a 
very little matter ; but God took notice of it and gives it an 
honorable record in His Book; and a thousand years after it 
IS referred to by an inspired Apostle, "Be not forgetful to en- 
tertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels 
unawares." What must have been the amazement of the Pa- 
triarch when he made the discovery that one of these visitors 
was the Lord of (ilory ! The same who had appeared to him 
before in comforting assurances and gracious promises. And 
how must his heart have rejoiced when from the same lips was 
given him the promise of a son, in whom all nations of the 
earth were to be blessed. 

The visitors now turn their faces toward Sodom and Abra- 
ham accompanies them. The Lord discloses to him that the 
object of approaching that vile city was one of wrath and ven- 
geance. The cry of their iniquity had come ud before the 
Lord, and now his sword of vengeance is in his hand ; but be- 
fore the stroke descends the man of faith begins to pray. As 
the adorable Saviour from the mount of Olives looked down 
on the doomed city of Jerusalem and wept over it, so the 
patriarch looked down upon these cities of the plain with 
deep anguish, and begins to plead for them. Ah ! there may 
be some hope for them yet, for along with the cry of their 
blasphemy and their foul crimes, there has begun to go up the 
prayer of faith. It is a startling sign of a sinner's state when 
good people have stopped praying for him — when, discouraged, 
they cease to expect God to hear. " I once had a pious sister 
that prayed for me," said a young man, "but she is dead, and 
1 have no one to pray for me now I" Sodom has one yet to 
plead for her, one who no doubt had done so before; but 
alas ! he is now offering the last prayer that will ever go up 
for her salvation. 

Prayer is an awfully solemn act at all times, but in the case 
of Abraham it was peculiarly so. He was in the personal 
])resence of the Lord. Yonder was the guilty multitude, 
among whom he - had "some friends and acquaintances, and 
above them the cloud of wrath hung suspended. And, O how 



6o THE world's hope. 

glorious does the man of God appear as, rising from tiie dust 
of humility, he begins to plead ! Great things depend on that 
one prayer. If // does not avail to save the cursed city, 
nothing else can. The city might be surrounded with mighty 
armies, led by the most skillful generals, but one flake of the 
Almighty wrath would have consumed them. They would 
have melted away like snow-flakes falling into a fiery furnace. 
They might have surrounded their city with the strongest for- 
tresses, and with a wall of iron ; but all would have been, be- 
fore the breath of the Lord, like great heaps of chaff before 
a whirlwind. Prayer is the only instrumentality now to which 
any hope can be attached in this case. 

And it is a delightful study to notice the heavenly art with 
which this good man orders his cause before God. The Divine; 
Spirit, then as well as now, made intercession within good 
men, and imparted to them that holy sagacity and heavenly 
skill in presenting their case before the Lord, that made them 
mighty in prayer. Abraham takes a humble position in the 
Divine presence ; " I have taken upon me to speak to God, 
who am but dust and ashes." He speaks as if he were an in- 
habitant of the guilty city, and were pleading for his own life 
as well as that of his neighbors. He prayed as a guilty man 
pleading for guilty men. There was nothing of the " I am 
holier than thou " feeling about him. 

Then, as a proof of his confidence in the Lord, it is said 
that he drew near ;" just as we have seen a loving child draw 
near to his father, when he has an important request to present. 
He also expresses the utmost confidence in the righteous and 
merciful government of God ; ''Shall not the Judge of all the 
earth do right ?" • He well kne\y how guilty Sodom had be- 
come ; how loud was the cry for vengeance which her sins for 
many long, rebellious years haS sent up to heaven ; but he also 
knew that the mercy of God was above the heavens, and he 
took his stand upon that ground. 

This ])rayer evinces great love for perishing souls. He had 
a loathing — an intense hatred for their sins; but at the same 
time a deep love for the sinners. Could his tears or even his 



ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OV GOD. . 6 J 

blood have saved them, they would have been freely given. 
This was the truly Christ-like spirit. It reminds us of Jesus 
pleading for his revilers, nay, even his murderers; hating their 
sins, and yet loving their souls with a depth of love that we 
an form no conception of in our most spiritual moments. 
It was this spirit of love for their souls that made Abraham 
so importunate in his prayer, and so persevering. He asks not 
merely once, but many times. He rises in his requests as the 
Lord condescends to answer him, till he gains the assurance 
that the city will be spared if even ^e/i righteous persons can 
be found in it. He charitably hopes that at least that number 
might be found there ; but alas ! no ; there is not even that 
little quantity of salt in the midst of the general corruption. 
He had not pleaded for the sake of the wicked, for, as Mathew 
Henry says, "Wickedness shuts the mouth of intercession.' 
And when he found that there was such a general, almost 
universal moral pollution in Sodom, he ceased to plead. 
" And the Lord went his way, as soon as he had left commun- 
ing with Abraham. The doom of the city is now sealed. 
Hie only righteous person there is saved by miraculous power, 
in answer to Abraham's intercession; and then the wrath of 
God falls upon the guilty. How glorious to think of Christ as 
our ever living Intercessor, appearing in the presence of God 
for us! It is good to have a pious neighbor to plead for us: 
but oh, how infinitely better to have the Divine Advocate to 
undertake our case and plead our cause ' Blessed are they 
who have such a Friend in court. 

We come now to consider the great trial of Abraham's faith, 
the call to offer up his son. When he was well advanced in 
years he was cheered by the promise of a son , a promise that 
was fulfilled to him in the hundredth year of his eventful life 
We can in some measure imagine the joy of this old couple as 
ihey held this precious gift of Heaven in their arms ; and 
raised their tearful eyes to heaven in gratitude. And we can 
conceive of the tender love with which they would surround 
one in whom so many hopes were centered. He has at last 
passed through all the perils of childhood and youth, and has 



62 • THE world's HOPE. 

reached a vigorous manhood ; when the same voice that had 
ypoken to Abraham in the land of Ur, comes again with a 

•most startHng communication. " Take now thy son, thine 
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land 
of Moriah ; and offer him there Cor a burnt offering upon one 
of the mountains which I will tell thee of." 

Can we imagine anything, under the circumstances, more 
trying than this ? We have seen that he had a firm faith in 
God's veracity, and unshaken trust in the Divine faithfulness; 
but will his confidence stand such a shock as this ? Yes ; 
even now he staggers not through unbelief. He feels shut up 
to but one course, and that is obedience to tlie good and per- 
fect will of the Most High. It is true, that for the time his 
brightest hopes are blasted, his plans, in regard to the dear 
youth, are all crushed ; but he was confident that his Lord's 
promises would all be fulfilled to him, even if it were by raising 
Isaac up from the dead. That must have been a memorable 
night in the history of the Patriarch. We may well believe 
that sleep was driven from his pillow ; and that, as he thought 
of that bright young man, who had been so long the light of 
his home, the joy of his heart, stretched out before him a bloody 
corpse, tried nature would extort many a groan. O^' his 
breaking the matter to Sarah, and of the parting of the son 
with the loving mother, nothing is said ; but silence is here 

; true eloquence. 

We can imagine many things that Abraham might have said, 

" many arguments that he might have urged to excuse himself 
from this painful duty. But he said nothing. "I was dumb, I 
opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it." His obe- 
dience was prompt. Early in the morning he rose and made 
jueparation for his long journey. He does not say, " I will 
consider the matter a few weeks or months." He does not go 
round to his pious friends and ask their advice u))on this im- 
portant point. He felt sure that it was the plain cxmimand of 
liod which he heard, and that is enough for him. I have 
heard people say when there was a'plain duty before them, '' I 
th) nt)t feel like dointj this." As if their fee1in«,s were to be 



ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OF GOD. 63 

the standard of right, and not the plainly revealed will of 
heaven. If Abraham had acted on this principle he would have 
made no movement towards the Mount of sacrifice. Such a 
principle, if acted upon, would strike with paralysis the whole 
framework of active, pious enterprise. True faith asks nothing 
more than a " Thus saith the Lord ;" and upon that it leans for 
support. 

Abraham's obedience was persevering. He sets forth upon 
a three days' journey ; so that if he had started under the influ- 
ence of a sudden impulse, there was ample time for it to cool 
under the influence of mature reflection. But the principle 
under which he started, was faith in God ; and that, like its 
source, is immutable. We may waver and falter in the path of 
"duty, because of the weakness of our nature ; but so far as we 
have faith at all, it takes hold of the unchanging God, and can- 
not be carried about by every wind. At last, on the third day, 
*' Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off"," 
Mount Moriah burst upon his view, the same Mount upon 
which, many ages after, Solomon built a temple to the Lord. 
Here, having told his servants to abide at the foot of the Mount, 
he and his son climb its rugged sides ; the son carrying the 
wood for the burnt offering, while the father has in his hands 
the fire and the knife. 

The summit is reached, and we can imagine that we see the 
man of God stand in deep reflection, with a countenance sol- 
emn and sad. The silence is broken by the voice of the son : 
" Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the Lamb for a 
burnt offering ?" O, how these words must have wrung the 
lieart of the father with unspeakable anguish ! But command- 
ing his voice, though it may be with quivering lips, he replies, 
" My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offer- 
ing." As Isaac was now twenty-five years of age, according 
to the best calculation, he must have been informed of the 
( ommand of (iod, and have yielded to it a calm acquiesencc. 

The Jewish historian, Josephus, presents us with the remarks 
made by the father to the son on this occasion, which as they are 
not found in the Book of God, are only imaginary; and yet 



64 THE world's hope. 

are so pathetic and natural that they deserve to be quoted : — 
" O ray son, begged of God in a thousand prayers, and at 
length unexpectedly obtained ; ever since you were born, with 
what tenderness and solicitude have I brought you up ! Pro- 
r)0sing to myself no higher felicity than to see you become a 
man, and to leave you the heir of my possessions. But the 
God who bestowed you upon me demands you again. Prepare, 
then, to yield the sacrifice with alacrity. I give you up to him 
who, at all seasons and in all situations, has prosecuted us with 
loving-kindness and tender mercy. You came into the world 
under the necessity of dying ; and the manner of your death 
is to be singular and illustrious, presented in sacrifice by your 
own father to the great Father of all ; who, we may presume, 
considers it as unfit and unbecoming that you should depart 
out of this life by disease, in war, or by any other of the usual 
calamities to which human nature is subject, but who waits to- 
receive your spirit as it leaves the body, amidst the prayers and 
vows of your affectionate parent, that he may place it in per- 
fect blessedness with himself. There you shall still be the 
consolation and support of my old age, not indeed by your 
presence and conversation, but bequeathing me, when you de- 
part, the presence and the blessing of the Almighty." To this 
Isaac is represented as answering : " I should be unworthy of 
iife were I capable of showing reluctance to obey the will of 
my father and my God. It were enough for me that my earthly 
parent alone called me to the altar, how much more when my 
heavenly Father re-demands his own ?" 

See Isaac, then, bound upon the altar. The father's hand is 
lifted up and firmly grasping the glittering blade, when the 
voice from heaven at once arrests the descending blow. " Lay 
not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him." 
God had indeed provided himself a lamb for a burnt offering. 
A ram was seen caught in a thicket by the horns ; and with 
what overflowing gratitude must that offering have been pre- 
sented by both father and son ! The descent from that Mount 
■ war. :i jovful one. 



ABRAHAM. THE FRIEND OF GOD. 65 

This narrative has been much criticised by infidels; and 
there seems to me to be, on the part of some Christian writers, 
an unnecessary haste to rush in with supposed reasons, and 
seeming apologies for the Divine conduct. Who are we that 
we should set ourselves up to explain God's motives for doing 
this, or not doing that ! The High and Lofty One that inhab- 
iteth eternity, needs not our explanations and our apologies for 
his conduct. We are to examine the evidences that He gives 
us that the Bible is a revelation from Himself. And these are 
full and overpowering. They are such as have defied the 
attacks of infidelity in every age ; and now, amid the light of 
the present century, stand firmer than ever. These evidences 
are such as to convince any honest mind, when candidly exam- 
ined, that the Bible is a revelation to man from God ; and hav- 
ing received it as such, let us believe its teachings and facts, 
whether we can understand the reasons for them or not. It 
seems to me beneath the dignity of truth to run after every 
empty caviler with explanations, and almost apologies, for Je- 
hovah's acts. And generally its only result is to build them 
up in their pride and to make them think themselves of im- 
mense consequence. Let it be ours, like Abraham, to believe 
because God has spoken ; knowing that many things that must 
be dark to our puny minds, are bright and clear to the Divine 
wisdom. 

It is on the same principle that some are ready to gather up 
every little crumb of praise that certain distinguished men, 
many of them very bad men, choose to drop in favor orf" Christ- 
ianity. One vile sinner, a man of great talent, no doubt, uttered 
a few words of praise of Christ's character ; and a fallen and 
exiled warrior, who never seems to have cared for any God 
but himself, does the same ; and their remarks are taken up 
and reiterated, as if Christianity and its Author were laid under 
great obligation to these men for their condescending praise 
We are told of a great statesman, who perhaps never prayed in 
his life, expressing his admiration for the Lord's prayer as a 
wonderful composition ; and of a great poet and a great sin- 
ner, too, extolling the pure morality of the Bible. All this 



66 THE \vorld's HOFi:. 

subserviency to wicked and infidel men is uncalled for. God 
U'ill vindicate his own character, and carry on his own cause, 
without going to the devil's servants to borrow capital for that 
purpose. " Is not my word a fire and a hammer*.^ saith the 
Lord " " Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit " 

We have seen the power and triumph of faith in leading 
Abraham to give up his own will to the will of God All sin 
consists m opposition to that will ; while, on the other hand, all 
holiness is to be found in a ready obedience to the known will 
of Jehm'ah. It is especially in our will that our individualitx 
lies ; and when that is given up to our Heavenly Father, it car- 
ries the whole power of the soul with it. Man may wish to 
make some reserve, and think that he can be religious without 
such an entire surrender of his whole will to God, but the 
faith that works by love, leads the soul to say, '' I am not my 
own ; I am bought with a price/' It is willing at the command, 
of God, to bring forth its beloved Isaacs and bind them upon 
the altar of sacrifice Tlj^ trial may be severely felt . it may 
tear its way through every fiber of his nature . but faith and 
love enable him to say, " Not my will, but Thine be done ' 

When the patriarch returned home with his son still alive, 
with the approving voice of God sounding in his ears, and his 
own conscience echoing that voice, we would be ready to say 
that his troubles, are now all over. He is rich in worldlv 
goods, his domestic relations are happy, and it seems as if a 
serene old age is closing in upon him without a single cloud 
in his sky But life to all is a mixed state, a state of joys and 
sorrows, of pains and pleasures., of sunshine and cloud, of storm 
^nd calm. The Lord has still in reserve for his aged servant 
sorrows and trials, to keep his faith vigorous and bright, and 
to make him feel that earth is not his home, and to lead him 
to look more earnestly for that "city that hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is God." 

Accordingly we find that one day there is great sorrow in the 
vale of Memre. The face of the father of the faithful is heavy 
with sorrow. Death has entered his happy dwelling, and he 
stands gazing in speechless anguish upon the fixed ;ind ].lacid 



AHRAHAM. THK FRIKND OK (,0L). 67 

features of his dead wife. Yes , the loved one who had been 
so long the light of his dwelling, who had come with him frohi 
her native land, who had been his faithful companion alike in 
^joverty and riches, who had shared with him his wanderings 
and his trials, and had been the earthly comfort of his life, now 
sleeps her last, long sleep. We do not hear that he wept when 
the sacrifice of his son was demanded; but he weeps now 
And those tears are honorable to him, and a silent tribtite to 
the worth of the loved one that is gone. Gloomy to him now 
are the scenes of Kerjath-arba. 

There are few sights more affecting than the utter sadness 
and desolation of an old man, when the wife of his youth is 
taken away. He feels that a part of himself is gone. Others 
may be kind, but the one that understood all his ways and an- 
ticipated all his wants, is gone ; and he sits for hours in a 
helpless kind of state, gazing at the vacant chair. And when 
we are told that he has soon been called to join the loved one 
in heaven, we heave a sigh of relief. 

In commenting upon Abraham's faith, the apostle Paul says : 
" For what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it 
was counted unto him for righteousness." He then goes on in 
a most masterly argument to prove that faith, not works, is the 
only method of justification before God. He shows that if he 
was justified by works he would have had something in which 
to glory before God ; but that, being justified by faith, his sal- 
vation was all of grace, and consequently cut off all possibility 
of glorying in self. Abraham was not merely the father and 
head of the Israelitish people according to the flesh , but he 
was the head of a spiritual people, that is such as had his 
faith. " They who are of faith, the same are the children of 
Abraham." In our Lord's days on earth, he met with many 
self-deceivers, who, building upon a hereditary religion, sup- 
posed they were safe because they had Abraham for their 
father ; but our adorable Savior rebuked them in the terrible 
Avords, "Ye are of your father the Devil, for his works ye do." 
It was revealed to the Patriarch that a descendant of his, ac- 
cording to the flesh, was to be the Savior of the world. He 



68 THE world's hope 

believed in that promised Savior, and was justified through 
that faith ; and so are all who have the same faith The reve- 
lation was dim and indistinct , but notwithstanding he saw 
Christ's day, though afar off. and was glad. He believed 
simply because God had promised. That was the only ground 
he had to rest upon, for everything of an outward kind was 
against his^faith. 

If Abraham had such firm faith, even amid the dark and 
shadowy dispensation in which he lived, how should this re- 
buke the unbelief of those who live amid the blaze of Gospel 
light ! The gospel trumpet blows in the ear of the slumbering 
sinner, many a warning blast -. but he heeds them not. Faith 
is the same now that it ever was. The truth to be believed 
is the same. The hell to be escaped from is the same The 
Savior that alone can save from sin and its consequence, is 
the same. But the light we possess now is so much brighter, 
the means ,of grace are so much more abundant, the calls to 
flee from the wrath to come are so much more pressing, that 
he who rejects them all, will go into eternity with a load of 
guilt upon his soul so deep and damning that we feel lost 
amid the very horror of the thought I 

" I worship Thee, sweet will of God, 

And all thy ways adore ; 
And every day I live I long 

To love Thee more and more 

" Man's weakness waiting upon God^ 

It's end can never miss ; 
For man on earth no worlc can do 

More angel-like than this. 

" He always wins who sides with God, 

To him no chance is lost ; 
God's will is sweetest to' him when 

It triumphs at his cost. 

"Ill, that God blesses, is our good, 

And unblest good is dl, 
And all is right that seems most wrong, 

If It be his dear will ' 

"When obstacles and trials seem 

Like prison-walls to be, 
I do the little I can do, 

And leave the rest to Thee." 



ISAAC. THE CHILD OF PROMISE. 69 



CHAPTER V. 

ISAAC. THF. CHILD OF PROMTSK. 

• 

Abraham died and was gathered to his people. '•' One gen- 
eration passeth away, and another cometh," Such is the law 
of our being, and from it there is no appeal. We find ourselves 
surrounded by the monuments of past generations, and know 
assuredly that we are hastening on to join them in their long 
sleep of death. Abraham, after his busy life of care and trial, 
sleeps in death beside his beloved Sarah ; every jarring sound 
hushed, every storm blown over, and resting in hope of a 
blessed resurrection. The dust of God's saints is precious 
in his sight, and is safely guarded under the care of his Om- 
nipotence. Whether they repose in their ancestral sepulchers. 
or in far distant lands, laid in their graves by stranger hands, 
whether they sink into ocean's unfathomable depths, or are re- 
duced to ashes by devouring fire ; at the appointed time their 
Lord shall bring them forth in glory and honor. 

Abraham is laid to rest in the cave of Machpelah. The 
grave that he bought from strangers is all that remains to him 
As Dr. Bonar says : 

" Only a tomb, no more ! 

A rock-hewn sepulcher, ^ 

And this, and this is all that's thine, 

Fair Canaan's mighty heir ' 

" Only a tomb, no more I 

A future resting-place, 
When God shall lay thee down, and bid 

All thy long wanderings cease. 

" This cave and field, — no more, — 

Canst thou thy dwelling call ; 
That land of thine, — plains, hills, woods, strean\s, — 

The stranger has it all I 



7C' JHE world's hope. 

" Thy altar and thy tent 

Are all that thou hast here ; 
With these content, thou passest on, 

A homeless wanderer 

** Thy life unrest and toil : 

Tliy course a pilgrimage ; 
Only in death thou goesi down, 

To claim thy heritage ; — 

'■ A heritage which death 

Shall seal to thee for aye, 
A resurrection-heritage 

When all things pass away. 

" A home of endless peace. 

Beyond these hills of strife ;. 
When these old rocks give up their dead, 

And death shall end m life. 

" A heritage of life, 

Beyond this guarded glof-m, 
A kingdom, not a field or cave ■ 

A city, not a tomb " 

The expression, "gathered unto his peojole," is one which is 
often used regarding the good men of the Bible. It has been 
commonly supposed to mean being buried with their kindred ; 
but it has a far higher meaning than this. In this sense it 
would not apply to Abraham at all, for his people and he were 
buried far from each other The same expression is applied to 
Jacob when he died in Egypt, and it is applied also to Moses, 
though buried in an unknown grave. It refers, no doubt, to 
the gathering of happy souls in heaven ; to the immediate and 
happy reunion of those friends who had for a short time been 
separated by death. It was the waiting and joyous host of 
glorified spirits in heavenly mansions, to whom they were gath- 
ered, when the burden of life was laid down, and the body 
went to the tomb. It has been complained that there is but 
little evidence of immortality being known in those early days ; 
but it should be remembered, that not having a written revela- 
tion, the Lord Jesus, in a bodily appearance of some kind, 
showed himself to his servants and spoke with them ; and that 



ISAAC. THE CHILD DK PROMISK. 7I 

angels often communicated with men, so that a constant inter- 
course was kept up between heaven and earth. They walked 
with God, they lived near heaven and knew that there was but 
a thin veil between them and tlie souls of their departed 
friends. 

Compared with his father, and his son Jacob, there is but 
little known of Isaac. He was not called to pass through any 
very stirring scenes, and therefore does not fill a large place in 
the sacred history. He was not a man of much force of char- 
acter, nor of much power of intellect. He had a plastic, 
yielding, amiable disposition ; easily acted upon by others, and 
but too ready to be governed by those that he ought to have 
governed. 

But he was a devoutly pious man. The pious example of 
his parents, as well as their instructions, were not lost upon 
him. His father was one who knew how to train up children 
for heaven, as we learn from Divine testimony. '' I know him, 
that he will command his children and his household after 
him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord." And where 
this is done, it is a rare case when children are not converted 
to God early in life. 

On this point the Rev. Richard Cecil, speaking from expe- 
rience, says, "Where parental influence does not convert, it 
hampers, it hangs on the wheels of evil. I had a pious 
mother, who dropped things in my way : I could rfiever rid my- 
self of. them. 1 was a professed infidel ; but then I liked to 
be an infidel in company, rather than alone. I was wretched 
when by myself. .These principles,^ maxims, and data, s})oiled 
my jollity. With my companions I could sometimes stifle them ; 
like embers, we kept one another warm. Besides, I was here a 
sort of hero. I had beguiled several of my associates into my 
opinions, and I had to maintain a character before them. But 
1 could not divest myself of my better principles. Parental 
influence thus cleaves to a man ; it harasses him — it throws 
itself continually in his way. My mother would talk to me, 
and weep as she talked. I flung out of the house with an'oath, 
but wept when I got into the street. Sympathy is the power- 



72 THE world's HOPE. 

ful engine of a mother; it is of incalculable importance to 
obtain a hold on the conscience ; children have a conscience, 
and it is not seared, though it is evil. Bringing the eternal 
world into their view — planning and acting with that world be- 
fore us, — thus gains at length such a hold on them, that, with 
all the infidel poison which they may afterwards imbibe, there 
are few children who at night in their chamber — in the dark 
— in a storm of thunder, will not fear. They recollect that 
ETERNITY which Stands in their way. It rises up before them ; 
it goads them ; it thunders in their ears." 

Isaac chose early the religion of heaven — that which is 
good for body and soul, for the old and for the young, for the 
rich and for the poor, for time and for eternity. There are 
many who are greatly alarmed at any unusual display of devo- 
tedness on the subject of religion. They will speak in the 
most rapturous terms of a devoted friend, a devoted patriot, a 
man devoted to the interests of science and education, but a 
man wholly devoted to God and to the promotion of his truth 
in the world, they are ready to set down as the victim of a weak 
delusion, if not of a pernicious fanaticism. The reason is, the 
enmity of their hearts to spiritual things, and the blinding 
influence of sin The things that are seen and are tem- 
poral fill up their %vhole little field of vision. They grope 
about in the darkness of a mere animal existence, totally unap- 
preciative of the eternal realities and the surpassing glor'cs 
which God spreads out before the eye of faith. 

In seeking after a likeness of God and entire conformity to 
his will ; in giving attention to things infinite and eternal ; in 
trying to save immortal souls, and win a crown of glory that 
fades not away ; how is it possible for us to be too earnest ' 
See what a holy earnestness marked our Lord's career ir.-.w ..ic 
fiianger to the cross. Like a sacred flame it giov\'jd in hio 
bosom and kept him continually busy for :i.t .kii.ation of th? 
world — preaching, praying, weeping. \\^.Av\.\g, never .oitering 
How carefully every moment was .-._. ou': in nis Father's busi- 
ness ! So devoted was he to t.i;; work ne had undertaken, so 
eager for the salvation of men, that he longed for iiis great 



ISAAC. THE CHILD OF PROMISE. 73 

baptism of blood — for all the big waves and billows of God's 
wrath that sinners deserved, to go over him. He made haste 
to the work of suffering for us, and was almost impatient for 
the dark hour of sacrifice to arrive. Even the designs of the 
guilty traitor, Judas, seemed too slow for his longings of love, 
for he said, "What thou doest do quickly." The apostles 
caught up the same spirit of their Divine Master, and turned 
the world upside down by the fiery fervor of their zeal. Steady 
as the sun in the heavens, they went on to the accomplishment 
of their great work, and as has been said, " struck the kingdom 
of darkness with blows that resounded through the universe.'* 

Everything, however, is not Christian earnestness that passes 
under that name. There is often an earnestness of mere sym- 
pathy that is awakened by contact with others. We are greatly 
influenced, at least for a time, by those with whom we asso- 
ciate. To some extent we catch their spirit, imitate their ac- 
tions, and sometimes the very tones of their voice. For 
example, here is a young convert, and circumstances lead him 
into connection with a church where, in their meetings, they 
shout and clap their hands, and loudly respond to the peti- 
tions expressed in the public prayers ; in short, are very de- 
monstrative in the expression of their feeling. He soon learns 
to do as the others do ; not because of his religion, for if that was 
the case then all who had real religion would do the same; but 
simply by the power of sympathy with those with whom he 
associates. Had circumstances carried the same man into 
connection with the evangelical Society of friends, he would 
have been ready to sit for hours in meeting without a word 
being spoken either by himself or others. And yet he might 
have as much real religious earnestness in the one case as in the 
ether. 

There is also an earnestness that is merely constitutional. 
It is bom with the man. There is a warmth and a fiery fervor 
about all that he says and does. There is certain animal ex- 
citement which he throws into all that he undertakes, and which 
surrounds him with a perpetual tempest. Now, there is no 
religion in all this. It is true, religion may take hold of his 



74 'I'HE WORLD S HOPE. 

natural temperament, and sanctify and direct it, and make it 
extensively useful ; just as religion takes the caution and cool 
deliberation of the more lymphatic temperament, and make.s 
them useful. Still there is much that goes by the name of re- 
ligious earnestness, in such persons, that is only the result of 
nature, not of grace — of feeling, not of principle. 

There is also a zeal of mere sentimentality. It will only 
work for Jesus when a romantic glow — a publicity and dis- 
tinction attend upon the work. If they could act in the eye.-i 
of the world, if they could encounter great perils, and come 
out of them spoken of as great heroes; recorded as such m 
poetry and sermon and public speeches, with what an ambi- 
tious burst of zeal would they go into Christ's service. But to 
live unknown, to suffer and sacrifice, and toil on for Jesus, till 
we. die unhonored and unknown ; and receive almost our first 
word of approval from the lips of Jesus himself, as we stand 
before his throne, requires solid principle, not mere sentiment. 
Yet faith teaches us that every act of love, every kind word, 
every tear dropped, every prayer uttered for Jesus, reports 
itself before the splendor of the eternal throne. The timid 
word spoken for the Savior in the midst of mocking folly, is 
heard by him in heaven above the sound of seven thunders. It 
is registered in heaven's imperishable record. 

True religious earnestness is fed from the unfailing fountain 
of love to God. There is more felt inwardly than is repre- 
sented outwardly. It lives not by the breath of human ap- 
])lause, but by the favor of God. At the cross it sees the whole 
truths of the Bible, the revelation of God to man for centuries, 
condensed into one,word — salvation, — and that a free salvation ; 
then it sees the long procession of lost souls as they go to their 
eternal prison-house, and is roused to work while he may to 
save those yet in the land of hope. Onward such a man goes, 
in his career of usefulness; Christ interceding above him, the 
Holy Spirit interceding withiji him, the heavenly Jerusalem to 
which he goes, with its pearly gales and golden streets shining 
before him, and crying to a mocking world, " O, flee from the 
wrath to come !" 



ISAAC. THF. CHII.I) OF VROMISP:. 75 

There is a little incident mentioned in the history of the pa- 
triarch that shows us one source of his deep piety. "And 
Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide." What 
a beautiful picture of a good man holding fellowship with God 
through his works. As the dusky twilight creeps over the face 
of nature, and a sweet stillness and repose settling down upon 
all things around him, deep thoughts of the future and of eter- 
nal things fill his mind ; and as some of the silent stars begin 
to appear, he feels with the Psalmist, "What is man that thou 
art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him ?" 

The age in which we live is one of many and blessed activi- 
ties for Christ. The ^^'ord of God, that blessed Book whose 
leaves are for the healing of the nations, is circulated by mill- 
ions. Missionaries are sent to every land, and toil on amid 
hardships and dangers, showing that the martyr-spirit has not 
died out. The habitations of sin and festering moral polliition 
are entered by the message of salvation, and from a darkness 
worse than that of heathenism, millions of children are gath- 
ered, and the light of heaven poured upon their dark minds.' 
We live in a wonderful age, and should bless God for what our 
eyes see and our ears hear of the J.ord's goodness. 

But there is one great peril we are in from the very nature 
of our age. There is not enough of secret religion. Like 
Isaac, we should be in meditation and prayer and self-exami- 
nation, alone before the Searcher of hearts. There is a rush 
and a bustle and an excitement about our religious efforts, that 
is apt to make us forget God, at the very time we are speaking 
of him and engaged in his work. In our large cities, especially, 
there are thousands of the most active Christians, -whose Sab- 
baths are spent in a kind of exhausting religious dissipation. 
From early in the morning till late at night, they are engaged 
in public services, — prayer-meetings, mission schools, hearing 
sermons, seeking out wonders ; till tired nature sinks under the 
labor; and it seems a mockery to call the sacred day a day of 
resf. No time for sweet meditation, for examining our own 
hearts and their hidden motives, for baring the soul before the 
Omniscient eye, and praying, " Search me and try me, O God, 
and see if there is any wicked way in me !" 



76 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

This is all wrong. We would do more for God in public, 
by being more ivith God in private. If the orator speaks 
with power in public it is because his mind has been disci- 
plined and stored with knowledge in the solitude of his study. 
There it is that he gathers up those elements of power by 
which he is able to thrill the hearts and sway the minds of 
vast multitudes. A religion of public activity must be 
backed up by frequent seasons of meditation, heart searching, 
and prayer. In the days of Elijah the cause of truth and 
holiness was brought very low, the altars of religion were over- 
turned, the preaching of God's servants was prohibited, and it 
seemed as if the emissaries of evil were about to triumph. The 
Prophet was a bold, daring man, not accustomed to cower be- 
fore the frowns of wickedness ; but he felt that he could do 
nothing in his own strength. He therefore retired to Mount 
Horeb for fasting and prayer, and for pouring out the com- 
plaint of his burdened spirit before the Lord ; and there he 
heard that " still small voice " that filled him with a confidence 
before which systems of error tottered and fell. 

But why refer to the example of others when we have that 
of the great Master. Jesus did not neglect public meetings. 
It was his custom to go to the house of the Lord. He was 
regular in his observance of, the public means. His activity 
was such as to put our most active Christians to the blush ; 
and yet he retired into remote places to spend whole nights in 
prayer. He commands us to enter our closet and shut the 
door, assuring us that the listening ear of God will be open to 
our every word. "Come my people, enter thou into thy 
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as it 
were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast." 

We have an inspired testimony borne to Isaac's faith. " By 
faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to 
come." His faith is seen in the fact that he goes on to dispose 
of the land of Canaan as if it were already in his possession. 
Everything outwardly looked unfavorable. As yet the only 
foothold which he had in that land was a grave: but God had 
promised, and there he rests. That promise was to his faith 



ISAAC. THE CHILD OF PROMISE. 77 

the same as a performance. It was as certain to him now, 
when all was dark, as if he already saw his seed in full pos- 
session of their fair inheritance ; and " sitting under their own 
vine and fig tree, none daring to make them afraid." 

In reading the account of this act of faith on the part of 
Isaac, we should remember that the blessing of the patriarch 
was a prophetic act. It connected the son, upon whom it 
rested, with that illustrious line by which the Messiah was to 
come. This was the reason why Jacob's mother was so anxious 
to secure it to her favorite child ; for the proud hope of every 
mother in Israel was, that through her this great Deliverer 
should come. It was God's sovereign purpose that Jacob, the 
younger son, should receive this blessing ; and yet, that pur- 
pose was effected by the wickedness of others. Isaac did not 
intend to give the blessing where he did. By dissembling and 
playing the mean part of a pretender, Jacob secured it ; and 
yet, through these unworthy means, God's holy designs were 
accomplished. This is a most wonderful and mysterious part 
of the ways of Providence. The God with whom we have to 
do is, in no sense, the author of sin. The very thought is 
blasphemy. He hates sin with a perfect hatred ; and yet, his 
divine wisdom often overrules the sins of men for the good of 
his creatures, and the carrying out of his purposes of infinite 
love. " Out of evil still educing good." He makes the wrath 
of man to praise him. 

When Job's heavy afflictions fell upon him he said, " Shall 
we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not re- 
ceive evil ?" Now, in reading the narrative of his trials, we 
would be ready to infer that it was at Satan's hand he received 
them, and at the hand of the Chaldeans ; but he recognized the 
Lord's hand, for without his permission they could have done 
nothing. In the very fact that the Lord did not prevent the 
evil from coming upon him, he knew there was some wise de- 
sign. The sin connected with what the actors did was their 
own ; the good brought out of it was God's. 

In regard to our Lord's death we read : " It pleased the 
Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief." And yet, in 



7^ THE world's hope. 

all the torture inflicted upon our Savior, we see the agency 
of Judas, of Pilate, of bloody-minded Jews who hated him 
without a cause. Still it was done according to the " determi- 
nate counsel and foreknowledge of God." Yet the actors, hav- 
ing done all that they did freely and by their own voluntary 
choice, are left without excuse. " By wicked hands ye cruci- 
fied the Lord of glory." Their designs were wicked, their 
acts were wicked, their whole being was steeped in wicked- 
ness, and yet God overruled all for the highest good of the 
world. 

How good it is to feel that the Lord reigns, and that he con- 
trols the affairs of the universe. He had the heart of Pharaoh 
in his hand as well as that of Moses, the heart of Saul as well 
as that of David. To his boasting, pompous enemy, our Lord 
said, " Thou couldst have no power unless it were given thee 
from above." This Providence controls alike the great and 
the small, the grain of sand as well as the mighty planet, the 
helpless infant as well as the vastest ernpire. Just as the law 
of gravitation controls the atom as well as the globe ; so there 
is nothing too small or too great to be beyond God's notice 
and care. 

It is worthy of remark, here, that when Isaac was told of 
the mistake which he had made in blessing Jacob, he does not 
undertake to correct it. He recognizes the mind and will of 
God at once. Said he, " I have blessed him, and he shall be 
blessed." Esau, in his bitter grief and disappointment, strove 
hard to get the matter reversed, but his father firmly adheres 
to what had been done. It is to this that the Apostle refers in 
Hebrews xii : i6, 17 : " Lest there be any fornicator, or profane 
person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birth- 
right. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have 
inherited the blessing, he was rejected ; for he found no place 
of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Upon 
this some have founded a doctrine that is not to be found in 
the Bible. They have taught that the sinner may reach such 
a state of soul that he shall be found pleading with God in 
deep earnestness for pardon and salvation, and be turned 
away with a refusal. 



ISAAC. THE CHILD OF PROMISE. 79 

Now, this is not the meaning, The repentance he could not 
find was on the part of his father, not on his part. He tried 
most earnestly to get the aged patriarch to change his mind, 
that is, to repent ; but his cries and his tears were of no avail. 
The blessing had gone forth, and could not be reversed. No 
soul who truly repented was ever turned away by the God 
of love, nor ever will be. The sorrow of the world that 
worketh death — a mere remorse of conscience — may some- 
times be thought to be repentance, but is not. This was the 
repentance of Judas, but instead of leading him nearer to God, 
it drove him farther off; for he went out and hanged himself. 
There have been some very improper and unguarded things 
said about persons, while yet living, having passed their day of 
grace. It may. be so, but it is certainly not taught m the pas- 
sage above quoted. In our intercourse with our fellow-men 
we should go upon the principle that while there is life there is 
hope. We should take it for granted, that the reason why God 
has prolonged life is to afford opportunity for repentance. 
Jesus is willing to receive the very chief of sinners. His blood 
cleanseth from all sin. His own glorious words are, " He that 
cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." 

Esau is an example of warning to us all. He enjoyed gt-cat 
privileges. Born and brought up in a family where the true 
God was known and worshiped, with prayers offered up for 
him by believing parents, he yet voluntarily despised all these, 
formed an alliance with the heathen around him, and became 
a profane person. Alas ! How many do the same now. Born: 
in a land of Bibles, and churches, and Sabbath schools, and 
revivals of great power ; with a mother's prayers uttered over 
their cradle, and a father's instruction, from their earliest years,, 
poured into their ears ; with the Holy Spirit striving with them 
from year to year, and pressing upon them the great powers of 
the world to come ; they do as did Esau, sacrifice the interests 
of the future for a paltry, momentary, and sinful gratification 
in the present. They plead their temptations as an excuse, 
but the motives to yield to sin can never be so strong as the 
motives to resist it are. To sin may secure us a temporary 



8o THE world's hope. 

gratification, but robs us of an eternal weight of glory. To go 
with them in the ways of death, may please a few sinful asso- 
ciates, but it brings down on us the frown of God forever, 
Epau sold his birthright, not for a crown, not for a kingdom, 
not for a fortune, not even for the breath of fame, empty and 
uncertain as that is, but for one morsel of meat ! God says to 
sinners, "Ye have sold yourselves for a thing of nought." One 
sells his soul for money, another for pleasure of a mere animal 
kind, another for fame, and, in short, there is no end to the fool's 
bargains that are thus made. The devil is buying souls cheap 
in the market of sin, every day. " What is a man profited if 
he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.^" As an old 
writer says, "Worldly things are less than the soul and cannot 
fill it; they are worse than the soul and cannot satisfy it." 

Esau felt his mean and sinful acts end in bitterness and 
sorrow. The beginning of a sinful life often looks quite flat- 
tering ; but look at its end. " What shall the end be of them 
that obey not the gospel of Christ ?" As it is really the end 
that crowns the action, that is the way in which we should 
judge of things. The wages of sin is death. Sin is hell and 
hell is sin. As far as this world is concerned Esau was a pros- 
perous man ; but he had no riches of the soul ; and the most 
dreadful of all kinds of poverty is that which- strikes into the 
soul and pierces it through and through. 

Some writers have enlarged, at considerable length, upon 
Isaac as a type of Christ, especially with reference to his being 
offered up in intention as a sacrifice. This has always appeared 
to me more fanciful than real. It was the shedding of blood 
that made the victims of sacrifice typical of Christ ; and in 
this case no blood was shed. And .even if his blood had been 
shed, it could not have been in the nature of an atonement ; 
for one poor sinner could not atone for another. There are 
abundant types of our blessed Redeemer, clear and distinct, 
without calling up those which are only imaginary. 

[n reading the life of such men as Isaac, living a life of such 
constant faith and fellowship with God, amid their dark dis- 
pensation, how should it rebuke our low state of piety. We 



ISAAC. THE CHILD OF PROMISE. 8r 

live in the blaze of Gospel light. They had that same Gospel 
only in dim outline. In promises and prophecies they saw the 
Savior afar off. We see the complete, the perfect Christ. And 
yet how far we live below our privileges ! Let us remember 
that the only way to use these is to profit by them. Such 
great blessings despised turn into avenging judgments. God 
removes the candlestick out of its place, and leaves the de- 
spiser of its light in darkness ; a darkness that precedes the 
blackness of darkness forever. Gospel truth ruins if it does 
not save. The soul that hears God's voice calling from day to 
day, and does not obey, soon occupies that state of soul that 
the old writers used to call gospel-ha7'dened. Listen to what 
the Word says : " He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy under two or three witnesses ; of how much sorer pun- 
ishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath 
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the 
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy 
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace V 

At last, the fretting cares and domestic sorrows that had 
darkened the latter days of Isaac are over ; and gently as the 
babe goes to sleep upon its mother's bosom, he sleeps in death. 
His happy soul joined the parents in heaven, who had so re- 
joiced over his birth on earth. They now have him forever. 

" Hast thou not glimpses in the twilight hour, 
Of mountains where immortal morn prevails ? 
Comes there not through the silence to thine ear 
A gentle rustling of the morning gale, 
A murmur, wafted from that glorious shore, 
Of streams that water banks forever fair, 
And voices of the loved ones gone before, 
More musical in that celestial air?" 



8i2 THE world's HOPE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 

In the lives of the people of God, as recorded in the Bible, 
there are two points very manifest ; God's treatment of them 
as a great moral Governor, and his treatment of them as a 
God of forgiving love. As a great moral Governor who can- 
not pass by sin, he drove the first transgressor out of Eden, 
out into a world cursed for his sake ; but as a God of grace 
and love, he at the same time gave him a promise of a coming 
Savior. That stern expulsion, and that flaming sword which 
" turns every way to keep the way of the tree of life," spoke 
of God's unquenchable hatred of sin ; that gracious promise 
spoke of his deep love to the sinner. The sinner is forgiven 
freely and fully ; but the result of his sins in the cursed earth 
in the sweat of his brow, in his struggles with the " thorns and 
thistles," are still allowed to remain. 

We see this subject illustrated in the case of Moses. He 
spake unadvisedly with his lips at the waters of Meribah, and 
God, as a moral Governor, was greatly displeased, and pro- 
hibited his entering the promised land. Moses was forgiven, 
but the prohibition which his sin caused was not withdrawn ; 
he was still kept out of the promised land; but to show the 
love of his God he is taken up to Pisgah and permitted to 
view the fair Canaan from afar, atid when he died the Lord 
tenderly buried him. We see the same thing in David's case. 
In the matter of Uriah the Hittite, he fell from a high and holy 
elevation. His open immorality in the sight of all Israel could 
not be passed over. He repented in broken-hearted contrition 
before God and he was freely forgiven ; but the result of his 
sin goes on unchecked. His child dies. Absalom rises in re- 
volt, and a long succession of domestic troubles darkens his 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 8^ 

earthly lot, and wrings his heart with anguish. God's govern- 
ment and grace work together, the one not interfering with the 
other, but both proceeding from the same hand. 

. Perhaps this principle is nowhere so clearly illustrated as in 
the case of the patriarch Jacob. It shows itself throughout 
his entire history. Jacob was a chosen child of God, a subject 
of God's grace; but when he sins he comes under the chas- 
tisement of God's government. His deceiving his father and 
supplanting his brother in the matter of the birthright, was a 
mean, wicked act ; and the righteous judge could not pass it 
over. Hence we see him a fugitive from his home, compelled 
to serve a hard master for twenty years, his wages capriciously 
changed again and again, never permitted again to see the face 
of that over-indulgent mother who had helped him to plan his 
wickedness ; his ten sons agreeing to deceive him, as he had 
deceived his father ; living for years in bitter sorrow on account 
of the supposed death of Joseph ; in terror of being murdered 
by his injured brother, and driven out of his own land, among 
strangers, by a famine, there to die. Oh what a large harvest 
of sorrow from evil seed which it took him but a few minutes 
to sow ! Yet Jacob was a good man, enjoying God's pardon- 
ing love ; but this did not prevent him from being a subject of 
God's governmental chastisement. " Whatsoever a man sows 
that shall he also reap." 

Some years ago I read an interesting article on this subject 
in a small religious magazine, called "Things New and Old," 
which contained a most forcible illustration, which I regret 
that I cannot give in the words of the author, but only from 
memory. Suppose a master sends a servant to sow a field 
with wheat. That servant, either from ignorance or gross 
carelessness, sows some vile weed. The master in the exer- 
cise of great goodness and forbearance pardons him freely and 
fully. The servant is deeply grieved for the wrong he has done 
his master, and sheds many a bitter tear over his fault. But 
would the master's pardon and the servant's repentance change 
the weeds into wheat? Certainly not. When the harvest time 
comes, and golden grain should be waving over the field, there 



84 THE world's hope. 

is nothing but the noxious weed. Now, when the servant looks 
over that field, ought the fact that the crop is not changed to 
make him doubt his master's forgiveness.? Not at all. Just 
as the nature of the pardon did not alter the crop, so the na- 
ture of the crop does not alter the pardon. The two things 
are perfectly distinct. 

Still farther ; the master, in the exercise of great chemical 
skill, might extract a medicine from the weed that would be -a 
thousand times more remunerative than the wheat would have 
been, and thus the sin of the servant might be overruled for 
good. But that would not make his wrong right, nor would it 
alter the great law that a man's reaping must be according to 
his sowing. This is plain and practical. 

Jacob, having obtained the blessing from his father, is com- 
pelled to go forth from the land that he loved, and the home 
of his affections, to a strange land, of which he knew nothing. 
We can easily conceive the deep depression that must have 
rested upon his heart. Much that was pleasant he was leaving 
behind him, and before him all was dark and uncertain. A 
good man, going forth in the path of duty, could not help feel- 
ing a sadness pervade his mind, under such circumstances. 
But Jacob had been brought into these circumstances not by 
duty, but by sin. His exile from his home was the result of 
his own transgression of the law of right ; and the knowledge 
of this rankling in his conscience, must have made his journey 
a melancholy one. To have a deep and abiding sense of God's 
favor in the soul, an approving God above us and an appiov- 
ing conscience within us, is the best support in times of trial. 
It makes the timid brave, and the desponding cheerful, it 
gives a new aspect to the whole face , of nature, and fills the 
soul with music and sunshine. 

At length the shadows of night gather around our traveler, 
while the fatigues of the way make rest welcome. He lies 
down to sleep under the open heavens, the grass his bed, and 
a stone his pillow. But that God who is pitiful and of tender 
compassion, saw all the sad desolation of his heart , and in a 
vision of the night comes to comfort him. In those early ages 



JACOr.. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 85 

of the world, before there was a written revelation, God often 
communicated with his servants in this way. Now that we 
have a complete revelation, it would be folly to depend upon 
dreams for our guidance. As an old writer says, " Read your 
dreams, if you like, in the light of Scripture; but do not read 
Scripture in the light of your dreams." We are now to be 
guided only by the sure Word of God. 

In his dream the patriarch saw a " a ladder set up on the 
earth, and the top of it reached to heaven ; and behold the 
angels of God ascending and descending on it." The meaning 
of this ladder, I think, is clear from the words of our Lord, 
" Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God 
ascending and descending upon the Son of Man." Christ's 
atonement connects heaven with earth ; has opened up the 
communication between God and man, which sin had closed ; 
and now sinners can get visits of mercy and promises of grace 
from the righteous Judge that they had offended. A man 
going up a ladder is above the earth and getting nearer heaven ; 
so a man who receives Christ's atonement by faith gets above 
the vanities of earth, and dwells in heavenly places with Christ 
Jesus. 

When Jacob awoke from sleep he was much affected, and 
filled with solemnity. He felt that God had come very near to 
him. " Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not." 
A great fear, a solemn dread came over him, as he reflected 
upon what had taken place ; and he exclaimed, " How dread- 
ful is this place ! this is none other but the house of God, and 
this is the gate of heaven." Those whose ideas of worship 
are confined to ritualistic forms and priestly ceremonies, 
those who feel as if there can be no house of God except in 
consecrated piles of architectural splendor, may wonder why 
he called that humble spot a house of God. But God's pres- 
ence can make the meeting on the hil-lsides, or in the caves of 
the earth, the assembly of the true worshipers in the forests or 
in a barn, the house of God ; while the grand cathedral, if it 
contains nothing but dead forms, is repulsive in the sight of 
that Great Spirit, who must be worshiped in spirit and in 



86 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

truth. This whole scene at Bethel is highly instructive, and is 
well improved in the following beautiful lines : 

" Sweet spot ! 'twas surely hallowed ground, 
"Where heaven itself diffused around 

The breath of peace and love ; 
There Jacob slept — there angels hung 
O'er him from whom the Savior sprung, 

To guard him from above. 

"He slept — but who that saw him there, 
Beneath the chill and midnight air, 

Upon the dewy sod, 
Lone as he seemed, could e'er have guess'd 
How bright a glimpse of glory bless'd 

That favored child of God ! 

" The gloomy cloud, by sorrow spread 
Around the sleeper's dreamy head, 

Had melted into light ; 
And, lo ! a vision too intense 
In splendor for weak mortal sense. 

Blazed on his inward sight. 

*' A ladder of stupendous height 
Led upward through the gates of light 

On to the throne of God, 
While to and fro, 'twixt heaven and earth, 
Fair holy ones, of seraph birth, 

In steps of glory trod. 

"Some wafted Israel's fervent prayer 
Along each heaven-ascending stair, 

E'en to the ear of Love, 
While myriads more, as swift as thought. 
Full many a goodly blessing brought 

In answer from above. 

" Sweet dream ! its memory oft would cheer 
The patriarch's soul through many a year 

Of sorrow, fear, and strife ; 
He loved it, for he there could see 
A beauteous emblem. Lord, of Thee, 

Thou glorious Way of Life ! 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 87 

" Through thee the Father's love descends, 
Through thee our love to him ascends, 

And prayer and praise arise ; 
While every promise, Lord, of thine, 
What is it but a step divine 

To lead us to the skies?" 

Jacob, in token of his gratitude to God for this manifesta- 
tion of His presence, took the stone that he had for his pillow, 
and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 
This he did to commemorate what had so recently transpired, 
so that it might be permanently remembered by him. The 
great evil with us is, that we are apt to forget what God does 
for us, and to allow his gracious interferences of love to fade 
away from our minds. This forgetfulness is very guilty, and 
were God not so long-suffering, would have provoked him long 
ago to remove his goodness from us forever. 

The patriarch also dedicated himself anew to God. His 
pouring oil upon the pillar was a symbol of this. His lan- 
guage is touchingly beautiful. " If God will be with me, and 
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to 
eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my Father's 
house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my God : and this 
stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house ; and 
of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto 
thee." Here we see that there is not a single mercy that we 
get from God's loving hand, but lays us under obligation to 
devote ourselves anew to his holy service. As the Author of 
all our blessings he has a claim upon our all. Our time, 
our talents, our property, our all, should be held as sa- 
credly devoted to Him who has done so much for us. In 
seasons of special deliverances, and when new and unexpected 
blessings have been conferred upon us, we should feel called 
upon to make a new consecration to the Lord. Let any 
Christian look back over the way that God has led him, pa- 
tiently bearing with his wanderings, supporting him in afflic- 
tions, opening a path for him when all seemed shut up, bring- 
ing him to many a green spot for refreshment when weary of 



88 THE world's hope. 

the dusty highway of life, and causing unlooked for blessings 
to come down upon him like the dews of heaven ; and lost 
must his soul be to all emotions of gratitude, if he does not 
exclaim, " What shall I render unto the Lord for all his bene- 
fits unto me ?" And surely that something that he will render 
to the Lord, will be a gift that he will feel^ that will require 
self-denial and self-sacrifice. Surely he will not be like the 
mean, rich man, who, when taken from the river, turned to the 
man that saved him from drowning, and offered him a dollar ' 
Well, perhaps the poor wretch knew best the value of his own 
life. 

Such an act is nothing to the meanness of the man who, 
professing to be saved by Christ from eternal death, stands up 
before God in the great congregation, and sings, — 

" Were all the realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small, 
Love so amazing, so divine, 

Demands my soul, my life, my all," 

and then drops into the Lord's treasury less than his cigars or 
some other useless luxury cost him for the last week. O how 
will such conduct look when the light of eternity shall reveal 
the value of souls, and the infinite importance of salvation ! 

We come now to consider one of the most wonderful events 
in the history of Jacob's eventful life. Fourteen years have 
passed away since he had the encouraging vision and received 
such cheering promises , and now he is about to return to the 
land he had left under the most painful circumstances. In a 
solemn review of those years, he says, " I am .not worthy of 
the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou 
hast showed unto thy servant ; for with my staff I passed over 
this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." Wlien he ut- 
tered these words the blue hills of his native land were in sight, 
and he was near to all the familiar scenes of his youth, so 
affecting to the heart of an exile, when they again come into 
view. He had tested God's promise and it had not failed him ; 
and now that he is again in trouble he knows where to go for 
help.' 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 89 

With his large family and abundance of flocks and property 
he is moving along, when he is informed that his brother Esau, 
whom he had so deeply wronged, is approaching, with four 
hundred men ; and, he has reason to fear, with a murderous 
purpose. What does he do in these circumstances ? God had 
told him to return to his native land, and had said, " I will 
surely do thee good," and therefore he knew that he was in the 
path of duty. And yet, he does not recklessly go forward, 
without using all the means in his power to avert the threat- 
ened danger. In him we see prudence and piety blending in 
beautiful union. He divides his company into separate bands , 
he sends forth a handsome present to his brother, accompany- 
ing it with a message calculated to allay resentful feelings in 
his bosom ; and thus having done all that he could do, he be- 
takes himself to God in prayer. He knew that our best laid 
plains will fail without a divine blessing upon them. 

Jacob was alone with God. The company so dear to 
him are sent on before him. It is past the midnight hour. 
Great things are pending upon the results of the coming day. 
It was not merely that his own life was in danger, but Leah, 
and the beloved Rachel, for whom he had served fourteen 
years with hard toil, and also his children, dearer to him than 
his own life, were all exposed to the same common danger. 
He resolves to devote that night to pleading with God. He knew 
that he had the heart of Esau and that of his rude band in his 
hands, and he could turn them in kindness towards him» as he 
had already done that of his surly, selfish father-in-law. All 
that human aid and skill could do had been done ; God must 
now be his refuge and his strength. 

We see the patriarch kneeling upon the ground, his bosom 
heaving with emotions too big for utterance , the deep silence of 
night only broken by his voice of earnest entreaty ; when, sud- 
denly, strange hands seize and grapple him, and there wrestled 
a man with him to the breaking of day. How startled the man 
of God must have been ! And yet this sudden and seemingly 
rude attack was the harbinger of safety, a token of an answer 
to his prayer. It was a true friend that came to him in the 



9© THE WORLDS HOPE. 

darkness of that memorable night, though he came as a foe. 
Thus God often comes to us his people in a way that is most 
alarming; that for a time makes them fear that he has become 
their avenging enemy ; but soon we find that the hand that 
shook us so vigorously has, after all, contained a most precious 
blessing for us. He wounds only to heal ;• he casts down only 
to exalt. 

We are not to understand this as a vision, but as a real trans- 
action. There was, no doubt, a bodily struggle ; but still, the 
chief thing upon which our minds are to be fixed is, the spir- 
itual conflict and victory. Hence it is, that deep anguish and 
agony of soul in pleading with Jehovah has been called 
*' wrestling with God." This is something, however, that mere 
formalists and ritualists cannot understand. It is something 
quite different from kneeling on a velvet cu.shion, opening a 
beautifully bound prayer-book, and reading a prayer composed 
by some one a century before, with far less emotion than the 
last news by the Atlantic cable would be read. It is to plead 
till every power of the soul is on the stretch in intense long- 
ings after God, and big waves of emotion chase each other 
across the soul. So wrestled the adorable Savior on that dark 
night in Gethsemane, till the body sweat came from every pore. 
Thus did Paul wrestle when he had great heaviness of heart, 
for his brethren according to the flesh. Thus did Luther 
wrestle in certain great crises of the reformation work. Thus 
did Knox wrestle when in an agony he cried out, " Lord, give 
me Scotland or I die !" And thus it was that Jacob wrestled. 

It is a legitimate subject of inquiry : Who was this person 
that wrestled with the patriarch ? In the narrative he is called 
" a man," while Hosea speaks of him as " the angel," and Jacob 
himself says, " I have seen God face to face." He is also said 
to have had " power with God." To us, therefore, this myste- 
rious stranger is a stranger no longer. It was the Lord Jesus ; 
he who as "the angel of the Covenant," had often appeared 
in a bodily form, till the fullness of the time came, when he as- 
sumed our nature. Then " the Word became flesh, and dwelt 
among us." It was the same who had walked in Eden in the. 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 9I 

cool of the day, and talked with the first pair ; who conversed 
with Abraham, and showed himself amid the shadowy visions 
of the prophets, who now strove with Jacob. He might, there- 
fore, have again said, " Surely, God was in this place and I knew 
it not." 

Concerning this great Being the wonderful expression is 
used, " And when he saw that he prevailed against him." How 
strange ! The High and Lofty One who inhabiteth eternity, 
does not prevail against a poor and sinful child of earth ! The 
reason was, that Jacob was, pleading the Lord's own promises, 
trusting his own pledged word, and that he never can deny. 
The worm Jacob prevails with God because he keeps pleading 
the promise, " I will surely do thee good." Still, that Jacob 
may not become proud and think that he had gained a great 
victory in his own strength, with one touch of the Divine finger 
his thigh is disjointed. Just as Paul, after the heavenly revela- 
tions had been made to him, had a thorn in the flesh left with 
him lest he should be exalted above measure. 

But though the pleader is now disabled and in pain, he does 
not give up the contest. He now has a perfect understanding 
of who it is with whom he has been striving; and this only 
increases his ardor to obtain the blessing. The Divine visitor 
seems as if he would leave him, saying, " Let me go." Just as 
the same Holy One, many centuries after, in going with the 
disciples to Emmaus, seemed about to go further, and yet in 
answer to their constraining prayer tarried with them ; so he 
was now only trying his servant's faith. He did not wish to 
leave him unblessed, in his weakness and despair. He is more 
willing to give than we to ask. 

" I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." What bold- 
ness of faith, what earnestness of entreaty, what perseverance 
of prayer is here ! Was the Lord offended with this familiarity 
of faith } Was the pleading sinner hurled to the ground a 
bleeding corpse ? No, no. When we have a promise to plead 
he will listen. He loves to have us use the holy violence of 
faith. Jacob's determination not to be denyed, reminds us of 
the perseverance of the Canaanitish woman, when pleading with 



92 . THE WORLD S HOPE, 

the same Lord long after. Though first met with utter silence, 
and with repeated rebuffs, she kept up her plea, till the gracious 
answer came, " O, woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee 
even as thou wilt." We lose much for want of this importun- 
ity. We become discouraged and disheartened when the 
answer to our prayer does not C(*me at once, and turn away in 
unbelief. An old writer says, " If the arrow of prayer is to 
enter heaven, we must draw it from a soul full bent." By the 
parables of the unjust Judge, and the friend that comes in the 
night to borrow the three loaves, our Lord teaches us, in the 
most emphatic form, the value of importunity in prayer. Let 
us lay this to heart. 

It is worthy of remark, that Jacob does not specify minutely 
what he wanted, but only asks a blessing. He knew that the 
Lord was well aware of his present circumstances, and that if 
he gives him a blessing at all, it will be sure to be one that will 
meet all his present necessities. He left it to the Divine Wis- 
dom to choose the best form in which this could be done. And 
God did bless him, then and there. Faith obtained a glorious 
victory. As one says, " He was knighted on the field." His 
old name, Jacob, which signified a supplanter, and therefore was 
calculated to remind him of his sin, is removed ; and a new 
name, Israel, meaning a prince with God, is given unto him. 
The reason of this new name is, that he had " power with men, 
and had prevailed." The fact that he had prevailed with God, 
was a pledge that he would prevail with his brother. He was 
not now afraid to go forward, for if God be for us who can be 
against us ? 

What a bright, glorious morning was that which now dawned 
upon Jacob. The shadows of night that now gathered around 
him on the previous evening, were but a faint emblem of the 
darkness of his mind ; the brightness of the sun that that morn- 
ing illuminated the face of nature, was but a faint sign of the 
heavenly light that filled the soul of the man of God. What 
though he now went along lame and halting in body, his soul 
was strong in God. The warrior does not care that he carries 
from the field some wounds, when the shout of victory is in his 
ears. 



JACOr.. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 93 

Let US learn from this whole subject, the great value of secret 
prayer. Jacob had a great deliverance from a public danger 
that threatened him ; but it was in secret, in the darkness of 
the night, that he obtained the answer to his prayer. The 
result of that night's pleading with God appeared openly after- 
wards, no doubt to the astonishment of those who did not know 
the secret, fervent prayer that had brought about that result. 
On this subject Dr. Hamilton beautifully remarks, " When 
Jacob and Esau met — on the one side the shaggy chieftain with 
his four hundred swordsmen, and on the other side the limping 
shepherd with his caravan of children and cattle — a flock of 
sheep approaching a band of wolves ; when the patriarch took 
his staff in his hand and stepped forward to meet the embat- 
tled company, and the anxious retinue awaited the issue — they 
saw the sword drop from Esau's hand — they saw his brawny 
arms around Jacob's neck — they saw in the red savage a sud- 
den and unlooked for brother. They saw the result, but they 
had not seen the prelude which led to it. They had not been 
with Jacob at the ford of Jabbok the night before. They had 
not viewed his agony and heard his prayer ; and though they 
noticed the halting limb, they did not know the victory whose 
token it was. They saw the patriarch, the husband, and the 
father; but they knew not that he was a prince with God, and 
and had gained Esau's heart from him who has all hearts in 
his hand. The halting thigh and the pacified foe were obvious ; 
but the wrestling over night was unknown." 

How sweetly Charles Wesley gives poetic expression to this 
whole scene, in one of the finest hymns in our language : 

" Come, O thou Traveler unknown, 

Whom still I hold, but cannot see; 
My company before is gone. 

And I am left alone with thee : 
With thee all night I mean to stay, 

And wrestle till the break of day. 

" I need not tell thee who I am ; 

My sin and misery declare ; 
Thyself hast call'd me by my name ,; 



Q4 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

Look on thy hands, and read it there*. 
But who, I ask thee, who art thou ? 
Tell me thy name, and tell me now. 

' In vain thou strugglest to get free; 

I never will unloose my hold : 
Art thou the Man that died for me ? 

The secret of thy love unfold : 
Wrestling, I will not let thee go, 
Till I thy name, thy nature know. 

^ :(: H: ^ 4: ^ >!: 

** Yield to me now, for I am weak, 

But confident in self-despair ; 
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak; 

Be conquer'd by my instant prayer : 
Speak, or thou never hence shall move, 
And tell me if thy name be Love. 

" 'Tis Love ! 'tis Love ! thou diedst for me; 

I hear thy whisper in my heart, 
The morning breaks, the shadows flee; 

Pure, universal Love thou art : 
To me, to all, thy bowels move, — 
Thy nature and thy name is Love. 

'* My prayer hath power with God; the grace 

Unspeakable I now receive; 
Through faith I see thee face to face; 

I see thee face to face, and live ! 
In vain I have not wept and strove; 
Thy nature and thy name is Love. 

" I know thee. Savior, who thou art, — 

Jesus, the feeble sinner's Friend : 
Nor wilt thou with the night depart, 

But stay and love me to the end; 
Thy mercies never shall remove; 
Thy nature and thy name is Love." 

It might seem to us, after such a marvelous display of God's 
goodness, and such abundant proofs that he was fully forgiven, 
that Jacob's trials are now at an end. But alas ! there still 
clings to God's people so much of the remains of sin, such a 
tendency to find their home on earth, that it becomes necea- 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 95 

sary that they should often feel the sharp strokes of the rod of 
affliction. The troubles that thicken around the pathway of 
the patriarch, are a proof that the rod is held by the hand of 
love. It was the same Ciod that pardoned his sins, that gave 
him the assurance of his love, that folded him in the covenant 
of eternal blessings, that permitted those distressing afflictions 
to come upon him. We cannot here dwell upon them. His 
sons treacherous and blood-thirsty ; his only daughter defiled ; 
his life in danger from his neighbors , his favorite son supposed 
to be killed and long mourned as lost to him; the famine 
bringing him and his to the verge of starvation ; all these trials 
bringing from his soul the bitter cry, " All these things are 
against me;" presents a solemn picture of the way in which 
the God of love often finds it necessary to lead his own people. 

There are two scenes in the closing up of Jacob's life in 
which he appears to. great advantage ; namely, his introduction 
to Pharaoh, and his dying address to his sons. It was in the 
eternal counsels of Gx)d, that Jacob should go down to Egypt ; 
but what striking providences and strange agencies are em- 
ployed to bring about the result ! Order, at last, was brought 
out of confusion, and the sweetest harmony out of the harshest 
discord. 

The patriarch stands before the monarch with simple dignity. 
The plain shepherd stands before the most powerful prince 
then upon the face of the earth, but there is nothing rude in 
his manners on the one hand, nor servile and sycophantic on 
the other. " And Jacob blessed Pharaoh." By imploring the 
blessing of God upon this heathen king and upon his empire, 
he is leading his mind to think of that great Jehovah, and in a 
way, too, that could not give offence. And how impressive his 
reply when he is asked his age, "The days of the years of 
my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years ; few and evil 
have the days of the years of my life been." He knew that he 
was standing on the verge of eternity ; and this is his solemn 
review of his life. It was only a pilgrimage, he had possessed 
no certain dwelling-place • but God had prepared for him a 
city, and by the eye of faith he could already see its open gates. 



96 THE world's hope. 

Though his might be called a long life, yet he speaks of his 
days disfew. They seem so when we look back upon them. 
And evil also. Ah ! this is the worst of it all. Days of suffer- 
ing, because they are days of sin ; these two things inseparably 
united together. How humbling in reviewing our lives, not to 
be able to think of one day without sin — all evil ; not one in 
which we have served God perfectly. And how should this 
lead us to value the precious blood of Jesus, that cleanseth from 
all sin. 

The last hour of the man of God has come. He fears it 
not, but, like a weary child, he longs to go to his rest. " Precious 
in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." God is 
very near to his dying servant, and imparts to him the spirit of 
inspiration, the spirit of prophecy, in which to address his 
sons as they gather around his bed. " Jacob called unto his 
sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons 
of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father." A most sol- 
emn sight was here. The dying address of a parent is always 
so, under almost any circumstances ; but when the words of 
that parent are inspired words, and are also prophetic of the 
future, his voice becomes the voice of God himself. 

The addresses to his several sons are most solemn and im- 
pressive. That to Reuben is uncommonly so. He is reminded 
of a foul, unnatural crime which he had committed forty years 
before, and the peculiar weakness of his character, that of insta- 
bility, faithfully pointed out. His next two sons had been united 
in an act of monstrous cruelty and deception, mingled with hor- 
rid impiety ; and the righteous indignation of the parent flames 
out against their sin. Nowhere does sin look so exceeding 
sinful as when we are on the confines of glory, with all its sin- 
less beauty about to break upon our view. It was an hour of 
deep tenderness, when he was about to part from those he loved, 
but no parental emotions must be permitted to interfere with 
faithfulness to their souls. 

At length the last son is spoken to , the last words they shall 
ever hear from a father's lips have fallen upon their ears. His 
breath shortens, he contracts his withered limbs, the animation 



JACOB. THE PREVAILER WITH GOD. 97 

that SO lately flashed in his eyes dies out, and the neart that 
had throbbed under so many sorrows is at last at rest. And 
while Joseph casts himself upon the cold clay, weeping out the 
bitterness of his anguish, the happy soul is with that God who 
had met with him at Bethel. He is no longer at the gate of 
heaven, but in its glorious courts, to go no more out forever. 

" There is a day of sunny rest 

For every dark and troubled night ; 

And grief may bide an evening guest, 

But joy shall come with early light." 



98 THE world's hope 



CHAPTER VII. 

JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. 

The Story of Joseph is one that charms and interests all classes 
of readers. The young are delighted by the succession of 
dramatic scenes through which he passes ; while the more 
thoughtful reader sees the wonder-working hand of God's Prov- 
idence, bringing from small beginnings the most stupendous 
results. His life, as presented on the page of inspiration, is one 
of beautiful symmetry ; uniting attention to the duties of earth 
and to the claims of eternity ; diligent in business and yet fer- 
vent in spirit; making the most of both worlds by giving up 
his whole being to the guidance of that religion which is profit- 
able for the life that now is, and for that which is to come. 

Joseph is brought before us in the fresh glow of his boyhood's 
days, when he dwelt with his fond father in the land of Canaan. 
As he was the child of his father's old age, and as his mother, 
of loved and cherished memory, was dead, we do not wonder 
v\ hen told that he was much petted and indulged by Jacob, 
V. ho showed to him a foolish partiality in the presence of the 
rest of his children. This showed itself in various ways, espe- 
cially in providing for him showy and expensive clothing, cal- 
culated to excite the envy of his brothers. This conduct was 
wrong on the part of the father, for it not only exposed his son 
to the hatred of his brethren, but was well calculated to puff 
him up with vanity. Alas ! how many young men are ruined 
by the unreasonable and hurtful indulgence .of their parents. 
Those parents wish to be their best friends, bufin reality prove 
their worst enemies ; indulgence in idleness, extravagance, and 
unrestrained passion, crush out every bud of fair })romise, till 
parent and child together fall under the crash of some sad 
moral delinquency. We can find some apology for Jacob's 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. 99 

conduct in the fact that he was now far advanced in years, and 
that Joseph was the son of his beloved Rachel ; and we cannot 
but admire the grace of God in preserving the youth frOm those 
heart sins to which his father's injudicious conduct exposed 
him. 

Just at this time Joseph had two dreams, which seemed to 
predict his future preeminence over the rest of the family. In 
the innocence of his heart he related these dreams in the hear- 
ing of his brethren, and at once their envy was turned into 
hatred and brooding revenge. An opportunity soon offers for 
this hatred to vent itself in acts of deadly cruelty. His breth- 
ren have been some time at a distance from home, feeding their 
flocks, and Joseph is sent by his father to visit them and bring 
back word of their welfare. In the spirit of prompt obedience 
that marked his whole career, he set out on his journey, and 
after some time spent in search, at last found them at Dothan 
At the sight of him all the malignity and rancor that had long 
been accumulating in their hearts became roused into activity 
The first proposal is to murder him on the spot ; but they are 
led to abandon this by the intervention of Reuben, and proceed 
to cast him into a pit in the wilderness. But the thought of 
leaving him to perish there of hunger seems to have touched 
the heart of Judah, and through his intercession they came to 
the conclusion to sell him as a slave to a company of Midian- 
itish merchants that were passing at this time. Before parting 
with him, however, they strip him of his coat, and after dipping 
it in the blood of a kid, present it to his father as an evidence 
that his son has been killed by some fierce beast. The story 
was believed, and the old man in the bitterness of his anguish 
says, " I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning!" 

But it is not my design to minutely relate the story of Joseph, 
which is familiar to every Sabbath school child ; but rather to 
notice how his faith in God enabled this young man to act, in 
the world of strangers, among whom he was so rudely thrown, 
and at such a tender age. 

And first, it is very evident that Joseph was animated by re- 
ligious motives and feelings. His pious father had shown his 



lOO THE WORLD S HOPE. 

affection for him in better ways than dressing and ornamenting 
his body. He had sought to lead him to God, and to have his 
soul clothed in those holy principles which are the noblest 
adornment. Often had he told him the story of grace, unfold- 
ed to the first guilty pair, and repeated in many a covenant 
promise to his fathers since. And the principle of faith had 
taken up its abode in his mind, and bore fruits unto holiness, 
as it always does, casting a splendor of goodness over all his 
subsequent life. 

This was manifested in the spirit in which he bore his inju- 
ries. For one so tenderly brought up and so fondly indulged, 
to become all at once the victim of such vile treatment, from 
those that he had never injured, and from whom he had a right 
only to expect kindness ; would, in the case of most persons 
have produced a dark, sullen spirit of utter distrust in all hu- 
man kind; a sour, misanthropic mood of mind; that would 
suspect a foe in every man that approached them, and a hypo- 
crite in every one showing them kindness. With many the in- 
juries he received would have produced revenge, gathering 
around them the fierce passions of perdition itself. But noth- 
ing of this kind is seen in Joseph. He does not even sink 
down into a low, despondent state of mind, as some weak char- 
acters would have done ; but proceeds with cheerful energy to 
fulfill the duties belonging to his position of life into which the 
Providence of God had introduced him. And how ready he 
was to forgive the injuries inflicted upon him ! He did not say, 
with some, "I might forgive some things ; but crimes so great, so 
unnatural, so unprovoked, I can never forgive, consistent with 
my own self-respect." This is only giving a fine name to the 
spirit of the devil. He did not even makei use of that miserable, 
sneaking expression, "I may forgive, but I can never forget." 
No, in after years, when he met his brethren in Egypt, he met 
them with a generous,whole hearted forgiveness ; and did all that 
he could to lead them to forget their fratricidal conduct toward 
him. It is true that he adopted a course of conduct toward them 
that was intended, and which had the effect, of bringing thcni 
to repentance for their past crimes ; but this was for their good, 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNO MEN. lOI 

and his seeming severity was as trying to his own generous, 
loving heart, as it wao to them. 

At last we see Joseph in a new home, but one very different 
from that from which he had been so rudely torn. There he 
was a free, happy youth, living in the sunshine of a father's 
smiles ; now he is a slave. There he had pious instruction and 
holy example ; now he is in a family of dark heathenism, and 
where his virtue is to be put to the severest test. It is always 
a critical time in a young man's life when he leaves home influ- 
ences, and enters upon new scenes, far from paternal restraints. 
But if he has the love of God in his heart, if he makes a con- 
science of carrying his religion into every thing he does, it will 
protect him from the corruptions of earth, and the temptations 
of hell. Greater is He that is for him than all that can be 
against him ; and he will be brought off more than a conqueror. 

So we are told that the Lord was with Joseph in his new 
home. He was in the path of duty, suffering wrong, but not 
doing wrong ; and so he felt a comfortable assurance of the 
Divine favor. As Andrew Fuller says, " What a difference is 
there between the cases of Joseph and Jonah ! They were both 
in trouble, both absent from God's people, both among the hea- 
then ; but the sufferings of the one were for righteousness' sake, 
while those of the other were of his own procuring. 

It is worthy of notice that Joseph brings prosperity into his 
new home. " His master saw that the Lord was with him, and 
that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand." 
This shows that this young servant of God had not kept his re- 
ligion concealed — that he had not been ashamed of it. He had 
not, to avoid persecution, joined in the idolatry of Egypt; but 
openly worshioed the true God of heaven and earth. This 
display of principle, of true manly piety, gives his master such 
confidence in him, that he promotes him to be steward over all 
his affairs. God not only blesses his own children, but makes 
them a blessing. Just as Laban had been prospered for Jacob's 
sake, so Jose])h became a great blessing to Potiphar, and after- 
wards to the whole land of Egypt. 

Joseph is now in comfortable circumstances. A tide of sue- 



I02 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

cess flows in upon him ; every thing that he did prospered, 
and a brilliant prospect spread out before him. No doubt, he 
often thought of the vale of Hebron, and the loving father that 
he had left there ; but in the land of strangers, his father's God 
had been with him, and he felt happy. 

But life is a mixed state. Joys and sorrows, smiles and tears, 
sunshine and clouds, are strangely mingled together. In the 
day of our brightest prosperity we may prepare for a day of ad- 
versity. A dungeon is awaiting Joseph. Fiery trials are ap- 
pointed him. His faith in God is yet to be more severely tried. 
The wife of his master is a profligate woman, one of those who 
urged him into " the way to hell." We know something of the 
low state of morality among these Pagan nations, sunk in gross 
darkness ; and as this woman was ignorant of the true God, an 
idolater, a worshiper of animals and loathsome insects, we do 
aot wonder at her degradation. But we tremble for the young 
man. Will he remember God } Will his religion sustain him 
jn this fiery trial.? There are few forms of temptation more 
dangerous to young men than that of sensuality ; and none, if 
yielded to, that will prove so ruinous to soul and body, for time 
and eternity. Joseph stands, as it were, upon the brink of a 
fearful peril, and the welfare of his whole future is suspended 
upon the decision of a moment. 

His situation reminds us of what occurred near Niagara 
Falls, some years ago. A steamboat started from Buff"aIo with 
£ome hundreds of persons on board, for the Falls. The nearest 
point that it was safe for the boat to approach the great 
cataract was Chippewa Creek, about ten miles above it, on the 
Canada side. The excursionists spent a happy day in visiting 
the scenes around the Falls, and toward night got on board 
the boat to return to their homes. By some mismanagement on 
the part of the engineer, a sufficient quantity of steam had not 
been generated, and when the boat passed out of the creek, 
and encountered the rapid current of the river, instead of going 
forward she began slowly to drift back toward the awful cataract. 

All was now wild consternation on board. The roar of the 
Falls could be heard in the distance, and the remorseless river 



JOSEPH, AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. I03 

was drawing them on to their doom. At length a happy- 
thought entered the mind of the engineer. He took the oil 
that was on board for lubricating the machinery, and threw it 
into the furnace. The flames blazed up with intense heat ; 
more steam was speedily the result, and then came a struggle 
between the boat and the sweep of the mighty river. The re- 
sult is watched with almost breathless anxiety by the hundreds 
whose lives depend upon the issue ; but soon they see by ob- 
jects upon the shore that the boat is moving upwards, and 
when in a short time she strikes calmer waters and the point of 
danger is passed, a shout of joy ascends from every heart. An 
old, gray haired man lifted his hat and said, " The Lord has de- 
livered us. Let us pray." And the multitude kneeled down 
upon the deck, while the voice of their thanksgiving went up 
to God along with the voice of the mighty Falls. 

To a worse danger than this was Joseph exposed ; and when 
we see the calm look that he casts to heaven for help ; and in- 
stead of the fires of unholy passion burning in his eye, we see 
there a fixed resolve to do right, we rejoice in deepest sympa- 
thy with that right ; and when he gives utterance to the noble 
sentiment, " How can I do this great wickedness, and sin 
against God.-^" we cannot doubt that a youth so well begun 
will be crowned with a useful and honored close. 

Here we see the value and importance of an early religious 
training. Divine truth impressed upon the mind from the ear- 
liest dawnings of intelligence, accompanied with believing 
prayer, cannot fail. God's word of command and of promise 
on this point is, " Train up a child in the way he should go, 
and when he is old he will not depart from it." The child is 
not only to be taught but to be trained. There is often a great 
deal of teaching where there is no training at all. The owner 
of the vineyard does not let the vine run any where it likes ; 
but with a wise and skillful hand he trains it. It must grow up 
in the direction he wishes. 

The following touching tribute of a young minister on the oc- 
casion of his ordination, to the efficacy of a mother's training, 
is worth quoting here : " I have no miracle to publish ; I hav? 



I04 THE WORLD S HOPE 

no surprising or sudden change to relate ; but blessed be His 
name, I was brought up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. The taking of my little hand in hers — I think I feel it 
still — and leading me aside to pray ; her concern on returning 
from the house of God, to enable me to remember and under- 
stand the sermon ; the murmur of her dear voice at her devo- 
tion as I passed her chamber door ; the maxims and principles 
she lodged in my infant mind ; the tears that bedewed her re- 
proofs ; the caresses that enforced her entreaties ; her cheer- 
fulness that constantly said, 'O taste and see that the Lord is 
good ;' her example, that embodied her religion, and made it as 
lovely as herself; these endear the memory of a mother from 
whom, under God, I have derived my spiritual as well as my 
natural life." 

Joseph thought of God's all seeing eye when under tempta- 
tion. This showed that his religion was a practical reality. 
A man may hold, as a matter of mere speculative belief, that 
God sees all that he does ; but if he can take liberties under 
the inspection of God, which he would not take under the eyes 
of his fellow men, he is little better than an atheist. Extend- 
ing to all the thoughts of our minds, penetrating to all the se- 
crets of our hearts, to the motives of out actions, to the work- 
ing of our affections, to the whole frame-work of our lives, 
should be the great truth, "Thou God seest me." 

Suppose that there was one spot somewhere in the universe 
where God could not look, could not see all that is going on ; 
would you, my reader, like to live in such a place.'' If one 
country could be discovered where we were as invisible to God 
as He is to us, would you like to emigrate to that land ? If a 
place could be found out where God took no notice of men's 
actions, where Bibles and Sabbaths are unknown, would you be 
found flocking along with the multitude that longed to reach that 
God-forsaken spot ? These questions, if pressed upon the con- 
science, will i^rove a real test of character to us. There are 
many who would be in their element in such a place, for as far 
as they can succeed in forgetting God, they are trying to turn 
the world into such a place. 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. I05 

To good men the thought of such a world or place is repul- 
sive. It might be rich in all that is attractive and gratifymg to 
the senses ; but to live under the solemn, loving eye of God i* 
a pleasure to the good man. To feel that his work and his 
worship are alike under the inspection of his heavenly Father, 
is to him a delight. He does not look upon the Holy One as 
a spy upon his actions, looking upon all he does for the pur- 
pose of finding fault ; but rather as a loving friend who is 
watching for his good. He would not, for all worlds, have it 
otherwise than it is. He feels himself under the loving eye 
of One to whom we can ever come in the confidence of faith, 
who knows all his wants better than he could express them, 
and who never, for one second of time, loses sight of him or 
his affairs. If there was one instant of our lives when God 
did not see us, we might fear for our security. We might fear 
that then the enemy would come in upon us like a flood, and that 
we should one day perish by the hand of our ever malignant foe. 
But there is no such vacancy, where God is not. He is ever 
near. The whole universe is full of his presence. The very 
smallest or meanest object upon which we can look speaks of 
constant superintendence. 

Young man, make God your friend by faith in Jesus, and 
you will love to think that God is near you, seeing you and 
thinking of you. When temptation comes upon you like a 
roaring flood, the thought that His eye is upon you will be like 
an anchor to your soul. It will hold you in safety as it held 
Joseph. You will learn to do all as in his sight, but for hk 
glory. You will do all that you can do heartily, as to the 
Lord. And then, in the great day of Judgment he will own our 
work that we have done for the humblest of his people, as done 
for himself. " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye did it unto me." A gentleman, after 
hearing a sermon on this text, said : "A few days since I car- 
ried to a poor christian woman a comforter, warm but well 
worn, and two loaves of bread, good bread, but a little stale. 
The weather was very cold, and the comforter was gratefully 
received. The poor woman was hungry, and the bread was 



lo6 THE world's hope. 

better than she usually obtained. But while listening to the 
sermon to-day, I thought that I had reflected that it was Jesus 
I was visiting in the person of one of his disciples, I would 
have taken a new comforter and fresh bread." 

There is one point of great importance in the history of 
Joseph, and from the consideration of which we may derive 
much instruction, his refusal to do wrong, and his firm adher- 
ence to the right, brought him in the first place into great 
trouble. It led to the loss of his situation, of his reputation, 
and of his liberty. This is one of the trials of our probation, 
that goodness is not always rewarded with happiness and pros- 
perity at once. This is one of the severe trials of faith in 
every age, that vice seems for a time to flourish and walk upon 
the heights of prosperity, while virtue is trampled in the dust. 
Potiphar's wife, living in pomp and great worldly grandeur, and 
regarded by her friends as a very model of virtuous propriety ; 
and Joseph living in prison under a degrading charge, is a case 
in point. If doing right always led to immediate and direct 
prosperity, there would be little room for the exercise of Yaith. 
People, in that case, would be under strong temptation to fol- 
low the right, as some followed the Savior when upon earth, 
fey the loaves and the fishes. But doing right often leads, in 
the first place, to the loss of a man's property, to the loss 
of his good name, and it may be to the loss of his life. It 
often leads to the prison, to the instruments of torture, and to 
the scaffold. It must, therefore, be chosen for its own sake by 
those who would persevere in well doing to the end. 

It is true, that in the end, the religious man makes the mos(. 
of both worlds; that his religion proves- profitable both for time 
and eternity ; and that even amid the worst trials and perse- 
cutions to which his principles may expose him, he has an 
inward peace, a heavenly calm in the consciousness of right, 
that makes him rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer in a 
righteous cause. The truth may call upon us to make sacri- 
fices in her interests, but she abundantly makes up for all such 
losses. The germ of eternal life is deposited in the believer's 
heart, when he first receives the truth, and it goes on expand- 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. I07 

ing into the blessed fruit ot eternal glory. In seeking the 
kingdom of heaven first, they secure all other things that they 
can possibly require. Listen to the words of the blessed Re- 
deemer, " And no man has left houses, lands, wife, children, 
family, for my sake, who shall not receive in this life an hun- 
dred fold." Yes; heaven's bank pays a hundred per cent. 
,The man who lives under the approving smile of God is rich, 
though living in outward poverty ; and happy, though the ob- 
ject of the world's bitter rage. God is his and he has all in 
Him. 

Joseph's religion kept his temper sweet, and his sympathy 
with humanity warm and strong, notwithstanding all his trials. 
There are many who when they suffer from the cruelty and the 
malignity of their fellow creatures, become soured and crabbed 
in their disposition ; lose all confidence in humanity, suspect- 
ing a villain, either open or concealed, in every man they meet. 
They sink down into a dark misanthropic spirit, till hateful and 
hating, they are shunned by all. Not so with Joseph. He had 
been grievously injured by others, even by those that he had 
every reason to trust. Yet his sympathies are as ardent and 
his heart as warm toward his fellow men, as if he had met with 
no disappointment. No sooner does he enter his prison than, 
instead of sitting down, sullen and sulky, in a corner of his cell, 
he begins to make himself useful to others. He enters into the 
troubles of his fellow-prisoners. He becomes cheerfully the 
servant of servants. God was preparing him for a situation of 
great responsibility, honor, and usefulness ; and he took kindly 
to the necessary lessons. He learned to bear the yoke in his 
youth. He learned to govern by first learning to obey. He 
stooped in order to be lifted up — he humbled himself in order 
to be exalted. 

Joseph is exalted to great wpalth and honor and power in 
the land of Egypt. His elevation i : sudden as it is great. 
How does he bear it ? It is difficult to carry a full and flow- 
ing cup. It is hard to stand upon a great height without gid- 
diness. The tempest passes over the modest flower that reposes 
in the valley, but sweeps down the lofty tree that lifts its head 



Io8 THE world's hope. 

high upon the mountain's brow. Many a man who in poverty 
and obscurity gave great promise of usefulness on earth and 
of glory in heaven, has been dragged down to hell by golden 
weights, under the curse of both God and man. Nearly all 
are willing to try the experiment, to try the test ; only a few 
elect spirits of the race come out of it triumphant. Joseph 
was one of these. He shows the same lofty regard to God's 
will when he stands next to the throne, as when he occupied 
a prisoner's cell. The ^me heart, fearing God and loving 
righteousness, that beat under the slave's fetters, throbbed 
under the gold chain, the emblem of royal authority. The 
same reverence for the great God reigned in his sOul when he 
rolled along in the chariot of State, as when he was dragged 
along, the poor, sorrowing captain of the Midianites. 

In short, Joseph carried his religion with him wherever he 
went, and in whatever situation he occupied. And this is the 
nature of all true religion. It has an all-pervading power. 
Some one has aptly said, " The grace of God is not an aro~ 
matic perfume, to be put into a glass bottle, corked, stopped, 
and laid aside for special occasions ; but it is that which should 
overflow, and give tone, and fragrance, and ornament to all 
that man is." There is no need of a man going out of the 
world in order to be a christian ; but rather let him carry his 
religion, with its sanctifying influence, into all he does, and 
thinks, and says. Let him discharge well the duties belonging 
to the situation where God has placed him ; yet keeping his 
heart fixed upon heavenly things. Soon the things of the 
world that now captivate and ensnare unstable souls, shall have 
passed away like a dream; and then blessed shall be those 
souls whose hopes rest upon the unchanging Savior alone. 

Another thing in Joseph's character worthy of our admira- 
tion and imitation, is his deep filial reverence. His affection to 
his father is manifested in the most unequivocal ways, on every 
occasion. The first question which he asks his brethren is, 
" Doth my father yet live .'*•* and then with what eagerness does 
he charge his brethren, saying, " Haste you, and go up to my 
father, and say unto him, thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. lOg 

made me lord of all Egypt : come down unto me, tarry not." 
And when he first meets his father how affecting the scene I 
With tears streaming from his eyes, he hangs upon his father's 
neck, and the many trials of his life and home- sickness of his 
heart, are all forgotten in that long and loving embrace. He 
seen\s as if he could not do enough for his parent's comfort. 
He watches over his declining years with a love tender as a 
mother's ; and when at last he dies, the affectionate son " fell 
upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him." 
No trouble is spared to show respect to the remains, and love 
to the memory of the departed one. The whole picture is 
most beautiful. 

How beautiful in children is reverence and respect for their 
parents. A young man was leaving home to enter upon the 
stern duties and dangerous encounters of life, when with tears 
in his eyes, he said, " Now then, mother, I am all ready. I 
am very sad, though I am ashamed to say it. How I shall 
miss you and all in the dear old home ! Do write often. I am' 
ashamed of my weakness." 

" Love for your mother and your home is no weakness, my 
boy;" was her reply. "If you left home without regret, I 
should think that 1 had been a bad mother to you. Do not 
forget your mother's God. He will always be near you — a 
present help — a powerful friend." A kind embrace, a last kiss, 
and John was gone to battle with the world. But the memory 
of that mother's prayers, and the deep love aijd reverence he 
had for her was a protection in many an hour of trial and 
temptation. 

I have no wish to be unduly fault-finding, but I fear that 
truth compels the assertion, that want of respect for parents 
is peculiarly the sin of our age and country. Young people 
do not now, I fear, show that reverence for parents and that 
respect for old age that marked a by-gone period. Many of 
them, at least, are so very wise in their own conceit, that the 
counsels of wisdom and experience are set down very prom])tly 
as the drivclings of old-fogyism. To despise paternal author- 
ity they think a sign of wisdon*. I am now addressing young 



no THE WORLDS HOPE. 

men, some living at home, and some far from the parental roof 
I ask their special attention to a few words on this important 
subject. 

I hold up to you Joseph as an example of what a young man 
should be to his parents. How tender, considerate, obedient 
and kind he was the whole inspired narrative shows. I can 
assure you that few subjects are more practically important to 
you than this. There are many homes in our land that might 
be happy, but have a dark shadow of wretchedness thrown 
over them by the disobedience of sons. Many a father has a 
withering blight thrown over his old age, and his gray hairs 
brought down with sorrow to the grave ; and many a loving 
mother is bowed down in broken-hearted anguish, on account 
of the rude, cruel, and undutiful conduct of those who might 
have made their last days their best days. Ah ! God will not 
hold such guiltless. His awful curse is upon them now, and 
will chase them into eternity, if they repent not. Even upon 
earth the righteous Judge often visits this sin with his most ter- 
rible judgments. 

What base ingratitude marks the sin of disobedience to 
parents ! In the helpless days of infancy they watched over 
you In sickness they spent long, sleepless nights attending 
you, and their tears fell in showers over your couch when 
dangerous symptoms appeared. For you they toiled and 
planned and thought and exercised self-denial, long before you 
were conscious of all this love Through your whole life these 
true hearts have beat responsive to your welfare ; and even 
now would they lay down their lives for you. And yet, it may 
be at this moment, you are treating them with cruel neglect or 
with insolent scorn ! It is a wonder of forbearance, that a 
thunderbolt has not leaped from the hand of the Almighty to 
smite you for such ingratitude. And were society not in such 
a corrupt state, you would be shunned as a deadly plague, and 
treated as a monster of depravity. 

Remember that these parents will not long be with you. 
Infirmities are gathering thick and fast around them. A few 
more years, and they will be laid away to sleep in the silent 



JOSEPH. AN EXAMPLE TO YOUNG MEN. Ill 

grave. You should use them well and love them well while 
you have them. If not, your conscience may wake up its 
sleeping thunders over their graves, and make your soul tremble 
under its blasting rebukes. Remembering the past when it is 
too late, remorse may prey upon your soul with a vulture's ap- 
petite. The most appalling sight I ever saw was the wild 
despair and bitter remorse of a wicked, disobedient son ovel 
the grave of his mother. " O, if I had her back for only one 
hour, that on my knees I might ask her forgiveness!" he cried, 
as with clenched fists he smote his breast in his agony. It 
reminded one of the despair of the lost. 

As a general rule people die as they live. " Tell me," said 
one to a minister, " how he died .^" " There is a more import- 
ant question than that," was the reply ; " that is, how he lived." 
Joseph lived a life of faith, and he died in faith. '' By 
faith Joseph, when he died made mention of the departing 
of the children of Israel ; and gave commandment concern- 
ing his bones." That is, he had strong faith in God's 
promises that his people would be brought up out of that 
land to the fair Canaan that had been promised them. His 
last- words v/ere, "I die; and God will surely visit you, and 
bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware 
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." God had done great 
things for him in Egypt. There he had been raised up to great 
splendor and greatness ; but all that could not make him for- 
get his loved Canaan, There was his home, and there went his, 
heart's dearest affections. So it is with the Christian now. 
God may here give him many comforts and blessings. A com- 
fortable home, kind friends, positions of honor and usefulness., 
and many things that make this life happy ; but still he knows, 
that this is not his home,not his r est. He often makes men- 
tion of Canaan, of his glorious home above, and longs to 
depart and be with Chipist, which is far better, 

" He gave commandment concerning his bones." The soul 
is the chief part of the man, but we cannot be indifferent to 
tlie body that has been the soul's dwelling-place for so long a 
time. Joseph's heart had not rested in Egypt, nor did he wish 



112 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

bis dust to rest there. That the body, so fearfully and wonder- 
fully made, and yet, in its glorified state, to be the eternal com- 
panion of the soul, should be to us an object of some solicitude, 
is in accordance with both nature and reveiation. Some affect 
an utter indifference as to what may be done with their bodies 
when they die. But if God cares for his people's dead bodies, 
watches over them, and has promised to give them a glorious 
resurrection, surely it would be the silliest of affectations for 
them to profess indifference to the whole subject. 

How blessed the close of a holy,. useful life. Joseph's life 
had been one of great vicissitude, but with triumph he entered 
upon the rest that remains for the people of God. O, who can 
tell the bliss of that moment, when he entered upon his eternal 
reward ; and received it as the reward purchased for him by 
Christ's blood ! There, with the choice spirits of the univ.erse, 
with angels that never sinned, and above all, with Jesus, the 
mediator of the new covenant, he is now enjoying unspeakable 
bliss. 

*' Calm are the holy dead 

When the passion of life is o'er, 
When the green turf flowers o'er the resting head, 
And the turbulent dreams of the world have fled, 

And the wild heart throbs no more ! 

" Bless'd are the holy dead, 
Though dark were their lot before ; 
For heal'd are the wounds that on earth have bled, 
And dried are the tears that on earth were shed 
For the sorrows that they bore ! " 

"Wise are the noble dead — 
Ay, wise with a noble lore-, " 
For to their clear glances are open spread 
The scrolls where the secrets of God a:e road. 
In the heaven where angels soar 1" 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. IIJ 



CHAPTER VIII. 

MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 

Moses was one of the greatest men intellectually that ever 
the great God made. And yet so great are his moral qualities, 
and SO much are our minds filled with the contemplation of 
them, that we scarcely ever think of his intellectual greatness 
at all. And yet in every light in which we can view him, 
where can we find his equal ? As a writer, as a poet, as a 
legislator, as a military leader, and as a philosopher, he towers 
up above all other men, as Mount Blanc rises in surpassing 
grandeur above the common mountains of the world. 

But it is upon his moral greatness that the Bible chiefly fixes 
our attention, because these are something that we can imitate. 
We cannot be like him in the overshadowing grandeur of his 
intellect, but in his faith, in his love, in his nearness to God, in 
his sweet communion with Jehovah, in hours and days of soli- 
tude, we can be as he was. He was a man of like passions 
with ourselves, and all that God's mighty grace did for him it 
can do for us. We have the same God to go to, the same blood 
of atonement to bring us near, the same throne of grace to 
approach, and the same mighty motives of love to urge us on 
to the surrender of our whole being to God's service. Nay, 
we live under a brighter dispensation, under a clearer light , 
than he enjoyed; and our love to God should be greater, and 
our song of gratitude more abundant than was his. 

It has been common when speaking of Moses to speak of his 
meekness as being the most prominent feature of his character. 
But the inspired writer speaks of his faith. " By faith Moses, 
when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of 
Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer affliction with 
the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a 
season." This is always done in the Bible. The Centurion 



114 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

for whom our Lord did so much, showed great love and great 
humility ; but Jesus did not speak of these, but of his faith. 
"I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel." The 
reason is that that grace is the root of all the others. Hope 
may soar heavenward ; peace may fill the soul with a holy calm ; 
zeal may burn with divine ardor ; holiness may persevere in 
the face of every discouragement ; but faith must give life to 
them all. Hence the prominence that is given to it. " This is 
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." 
, Faith enabled Moses to look upon the things that are unseen 
but eternal. It led him to leave Pharaoh's proud and splendid 
palace, because sin was there ; and fixed his gaze upon an in- 
finitely more glorious home in heaven. It led him to turn 
away from the society of earth's great ones, to the company of 
those who, though now poor and despised, were yet to wear 
crowns and sit upon thrones forever. It led him to give up 
seeming good, that flatters to destroy, for real ^ good that is 
eternal, and that far exceeds the highest expectations. 

The faith of Moses led him to make great sacrifices for the 
right. This faith always does. And yet those sacrifices are not 
felt to be so great by those who make them, as they seem to the 
men of the world. The reason is, that instead of being regarded 
as privations, they bring true happiness. Had Moses despised 
the light that was within him, he would have been the most mis- 
erable of men. Sin is the most dreadful evil in the universe. A 
man may be very poor and yet be happy. He may be covered 
with the most loathsome disease ; he may be the object of the 
bitterest persecutions ; he may be immured in dark and fetid 
dungeons ; he may be led out to a cruel death, around which 
unspeakable horrors cluster ; and yet "be the most happy ot 
men. But sin lodged and indulged in the heart, will kindle 
the fires of hell there. External pleasure may for a moment 
divert attention from his inward agony; but that long lasting 
anguish called remorse, will go where the soul goes, and live 
where the soul lives, unless forever blotted out by the blood of 
Christ. The sinner's hell begins here, and when he dies he 
goes to hell as the only place he is fit for in the whole universe. 




MOSES BEFORE PHARAOH S DAUGHTER. 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. II5 

He is not lost because God wished it, for he did not. He is 
not driven to perdition by any fixed, arbitrary decree of 
Jehovah, but he goes there because he has chosen to fill his 
soul with the elements of hell. As a- stone cast into a lake 
sinks to the bottom by its own weight, so sinks the Christless 
sinner, after death, into the blackness of darkness. 

In like manner when sin is forgiven, when the soul walks 
under the beamings of God's favor, its heaven is already 
begun. It has a little heaven to go to heaven in. Hence to 
Moses the reproach of Christ was greater riches than all the 
treasures of Egypt. He believed what God said, and did what 
God bid-; and cared nothing for the world's reproaches. He 
trod the earth as God's freeman. He could look into the 
eternal future without a cloud on his brow. He had Christ's 
love in his heart, and to the dignity of the true man that adds 
the glory of the saint. He had afterwards many rough places 
to tread, but they were smoothed by the luster of a coming 
glory. His happiness was not like an earthly flower, that 
fades almost before we have time to admire it, but rather like 
the tree of life, rejoicing m perpetual bloom. Men would 
speak as if Moses had made great sacrifices, but it would not 
seem so to him. As the stars are lost to our view when the 
greater light of the sun travels up in the heavens ; so all 
Egypt's wealth and glory would seem worthless beside the 
riches of Christ. That splendid palace in which he lived 
would seem a paltry thing compared with the house not made 
with hands. He had an eye to the recompense of reward. 

Reader, was not this a glorious beginning in life, for a young 
man that had just come of age ? Follow his example. We do 
not ask you to give up the pleasures of sin, without ofl"ering 
you any equivalent. Your Savior's loving voice comes down 
from the heavens in waves of heavenly music, inviting you to 
peace and rest here ; and in the home above he will teach you 
to sing in noble strains the song of Moses and the Lamb. 

In looking over the history of Moses one thing strikes us 
above all others, and that is the familiarity with the great God. 
Amid the wild and grand majesty of mountain solitudes he 



/ 

Il6 THE world's hope. 

talked and reasoned with Jehovah as a man with his friend. 
This was because his religion had a right beginning : it began 
in faith, which gives peace with God. " Acquaint thyself with 
God, and be at peace with him." He could come with great 
boldness before his Lord, because he came through the blood 
of atonement. When a soldier is put upon guard the officer 
gives him the countersign, and he is told to let no one pass, 
who cannot give that word. Now, if you wanted to get access 
to the commanding general, you must be able to give that 
word. You might be well dressed, and friends might come 
forward and testify as to the respectability of your character, 
but that would avail you nothing. You cannot pass until you 
have given the right word. 

So is it with the sinner, when he would gain access to God 
and heaven. One may come and tell of his good works, but 
that is not the countersign. Another may tell of his prayers, 
and of his religious emotions, but that is not the countersign. 
Another may tell of how much he has given for building 
churches, and for the support of ministers and missions, but 
neither is that the countersign. What then is it ? It is the 
precious blood of Christ. Hark ! It is God's own voice that 
says it. "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth. 
from all sin." 

If you could collect all the jewels of all the crowns of the 
world, their value would be immense. If you could empty the 
gold and silver mines of the world, your treasure would be very 
great ; but the whole of them put together could not buy five 
minutes of time. Some sinner, dying in despair, cried out, 
" A world of wealth for an inch of time." But, alas ! no such 
bargain could be made. The blood of Jesus, however, ob- 
tains for us eternal life — an eternity of glory. It pays the 
mighty debt that we owed to the justice of God. It bids us 
go free from the curse of the law. 

We are told that a wealthy gentleman, but a short time ago, 
went to preach in a town in England, but failed to obtain a 
congregation to hear him. Determined, however, to be heardj 
he next day caused large placards to be posted over the town, 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD, 1 1) 

Stating that whosoever would come to his house on the follow- 
ing Monday, between the hours of ten and twelve, would have 
all their debts paid. This notice was ridiculed by nearly all 
who read it. Some supposed it a hoax, others regarded it as 
the statement of a madman ; in short, all united in disbeliev- 
ing the statement. At length, when ten o clock came, they 
persuaded a foolish old man to go and try the truth of the ad- 
vertisement. He knocked at the door, was requested to come 
in, when the following conversation ensued : " What do you 
want.^" said the gentleman. "To have my debts paid, ac- 
cording to your advertisement," was the reply. "How much 
do you owe.?" Five pounds," was the reply. "Will that 
cover all ? " said the gentleman. " Yes, that is all I will need," 
was the answer. " Well, give me a receipt, and here is a check 
•n the bank for the money." The old man was astonished, but 
thanked his benefactor and was about to leave, but was told 
that he could not leave till after twelve o'clock. Soon after, 
another ventured in, led by idle curiosity, and had his debts 
paid in the same way. Another followed, and he likewise had 
his debts all paid. As soon as twelve o'clock had arrived they 
were permitted to depart, and on going out to the crowd who 
had assembled around the house, showed the checks that they 
had obtained for the money, and assured them that there was 
no deception about the gentleman's proposal. Upon hearing 
that, they made a rush upon the house, hoping to have all their 
debts paid. But they were told that it was now after twelve, 
that his promise was only to those who should come between 
ten and twelve ; that had they come then they should all have 
been treated alike, but that now it was, for them, too late ! 

Alas ! thus it will be with many gospel hearers. God's 
proclamation is, " Whosoever will, let him take of the water of 
life freely ! " And again, " Whosoever believeth on Him shall 
have eternal life." But they doubt, they hesitate, they delay, 
till the hour of their probation has gone past, till the door is 
shut in their faces, and thei^vail of their bitter anguish is heard 
outside as they cry, " The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and I am not saved !" 



Il8 THE world's hope. 

Moses is now a child of God. He has confident trust in 
every word that his Lord says. Young, vigorous, well edu- 
cated, full of manly strength, his soul overflowing with love to 
God and to his countrymen, he seems to us ready to enter upon 
his life's work. That work was to be the greatest ever alotted 
to any mere man. His countrymen are suffering under the 
grinding oppression of a relentless tyrant. In the soul of this 
young servant of the Lord, there burned a spirit of true pa- 
triotism ! And many a visit of compassion he paid to his 
brethren, to cheer their unhappy condition with the hope of 
coming deliverance. The case was urgent. A great work 
was to be done, and in our wisdom we would expect that, with- 
out an hour's delay, he would be called to enter upon it. 

But (xod's ways are not as our ways. Moses is not yet fit for 
his work, nor are the people fit for deliverance. It is true he 
has been educated in the schools of Egypt, and has obtained 
many brilliant accomplishments in the palace of Pharaoh ; but 
he must pass through the stern discipline of God's school of 
providence, before he can be fit for his mighty mission — his 
high vocation. Before he can govern he must first learn to 
obey. Hence, for forty long years, he is sent into the solitude 
and obscurity of humble life ; that he may learn to gain the 
victory over his own passions, before he gains a victory over 
Pharaoh ; that he may learn entire and implicit submission of 
himself to God's will, before he carries the knowledge of that 
will to a great people. We, in our hurry to accomplish great 
results, would have dispensed with that forty years' training, 
amid the mountain solitudes of Midian ; but God in his wis- 
dom sends him who was to be the future law-giver, the deliverer 
of three millions of people from slavery, to wander as a 
humble shepherd over another man's flocks, in those retired 
valleys. There, with the wild mountains all around him, 
whose rocky peaks seemed to pierce the blue vault of heaven, 
alone with God, his pride and self-will were purged away, and 
he came forth from the process mild in spirit, patient in tem- 
per, reverent and humble ; and one of the meekest of men in 
his intercourse with the world. 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. II9 

As these years rolled on and found the servant of God stil* 
in his humble position, it might seem to one of less faith than 
he, as if God had forgotten him ; as if his vast powers were to 
be lost to the cause of truth and righteousness. What solemn 
and stupendous thoughts must have passed through his mind 
as he walked among the sublime works of God, and thought of 
all his dealings with his people in the ages past, and of the 
promises left them of future good. No doubt his fervent 
prayers were often heard echoing amid the mountain caverns 
by day and by night. No doubt his faith pleaded the promises 
given to his fathers, and refused to let God go till they were 
gloriously fulfilled. 

Nor were his faith and prayers in vain. They never are- 
God has not forgotten him, nor his oppressed people. He was 
but waiting for the needful preparation in them both, to bless 
and honor them as no people were ever blessed and honored 
before. True, he had caused them to pass through severe 
trials, bitter afflictions ; but it is the glory of the God of grace 
to bring forth the sweet out of the bitter, light out of darkness, 
and heavenly order out of earthly confusion. The circum- 
stances which led Moses to flee from Egypt at the very time 
when he seemed ready to begin his work, and which detained 
him so long in Midian, were all appointed by infinite wisdom. 
Nor was the time spent there at all lost. It was in that soli- 
tude that he is supposed to have written, under divine in- 
spiration, the book of Genesis, and also the book of Job. 
Here, too, God gave him a wife and children to cheer the 
hours of his solitude with the sweet sympathies of domestic 
endearment. 

But the time for action has at last come. God's set time to 
favor Zion has at last arrived. Pharaoh has died and gone to 
his solemn account ; but deliverance does not come in that 
way. Another king succeeds him who, if possible, hates the 
Israelites with a deeper hatred, and shows it in acts still more 
cruel. Deliverance comes in a way that casts contempt on 
human pride and glory. It does not come in the shape of vast 
armies with fluttering banners and glittering armor, led on by 



I20 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

brave and skillful generals ; nor does it come by the oppressed 
people themselves rising in their might, resolved to have liberty 
or death, bursting their ignoble chains and trampling tiicir op- 
pressors under their feet. No, this is the way that human 
sagacity and policy would have arranged the matter. But 
vastly different was God's plan. He sends the deliverer forth 
in the form of a humble shepherd, with simply a rod in his 
hand ; but that rod is the emblem of God's omnipotence. 

But before Moses goes forth he receives his high com.mission 
— his ordination to his great work — in a way so awfully solemn 
as to send a trembling through his whole being. One morning 
he began his daily duties as usnal. There was nothing to in- 
dicate that the day would be different from any other, or that 
anything would occur to break the monotony of his every day 
life. So true is it that we know not what a day may bring 
forth. That v/as to be a marked day in his history, and in the 
history of the world. A day that was to break up his solitude 
and bring him forth into a prominence and an activity to 
which few men are called ; and roll upon him a responsibility 
under which an angel might stagger. 

While engaged in his accustomed duties, a most wonderful 
sight caught his eye. It was that of a bush on fire, trunk, 
branches and leaves, all burning with the greatest fury, and 
yet not consumed. He draws near to examine this wonderful 
phenomenon, when his whole soul is thrilled by a voice ad- 
dressing him from out of the flame. It is the voice of God 
himself. It is he who, under the appellation of Angel of the 
Covenant, had appeared to his fathers. The same that spoke 
with Abraham, wrestled with Jacob, and showed himself in 
distinct vision to the prophets. It was the same Being who, 
in the fullness of time, took upon him our nature, and died 
upon the cross for us. The first feeling of the man of Go(? 
was that of terror. This is natural to our fallen humanity 
when we feel ourselves in the presence of Jehovah, and arises 
from the fact that we are sinners. We know that we have 
merited his displeasure, and when we feel that he is near us we 
are ready to conclude that it must be to punish. Ah ! if the 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 121 

felt presence of God made even a man like Moses tremble, how 
awful must that presence be to his enemies in the great day of 
his wrath. 

Moses is warned against approaching his great Creator with 
undue familiarity. We are permitted to come boldly into his 
presence, through the blood of Jesus, but not with the bold- 
ness of presumption, nor that of irreverence. We have 
heard some address God as they would not address their 
equals, nay, even their inferiors. We have seen some behave 
themselves in the house of God, as they would not dare to do 
in the house of a passing acquaintance. Such should remem- 
ber that God's eye is upon them, and that he will not be 
mocked. He is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his 
people ; and wherever his presence is clearly realized the soul 
in profoundest awe be made to cry out, " How dreadful is this 
place !" 

We have seen that the first feeling of the leader of Israel 
was that of fear, but that soon gave place to confidence and 
trust. His faith gave him the spirit of adoption ; and soon 
we find him talking and even reasoning with the God of the 
whole earth. He still invites us to come near through the 
blood of atonement, saying, " Come and let us reason to- 
gether." He is the most reasonable being in the whole 
universe. If we have a good reason to urge he will give it full 
weight; and we will not be afraid that any wrong or injustice 
will be done us. 

Moses displayed great modesty and self-diffidence when 
told of the work to which he was called. No doubt this was 
a very lovely and proper trait of character. " Let no man 
think more highly of himself than he ought to think/' It was 
well enough that he should tell the Lord of liis unworthiness, 
of his feeling of unfitness for such an high position, and ask for 
divine aid. But when the Lord said, " Certainly I will be with 
thee," and condescended to give him a token by which he might 
know that this was the case ; then any more shrinking back 
and complaining of his unfitness, was the result of unbelief 
not of faith. 



122 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

So is it with many now under the brighter gospel dispensa- 
tion. Jesus has died in their stead, and made a perfect satis- 
faction to the broken law for all their guilt. By faith in Him 
we are told that not only are they justified from all things, but 
that they are complete in Him ; that in him they have all 
things pertaining to life and godliness, even eternal life. And 
yet, they keep dwelling upon their own sinfulness and their 
unworthiness, till all" the comfort which God intends them to 
receive from the good' news is destroyed. When urged to join 
the church, they tell us that they are not worthy. When 
thinking of coming to the Lord's Supper, they shrink back be- 
cause they are not worthy. Just as if Christ had done nothings 
and as if the whole work of their salvation was left to depend 
upon their own worthiness. Must it not be very dishonoring to 
the Savior to have his work thus treated as if it were nothing ; 
and as if the Father were not well pleased with it, but had en- 
tirely disowned it ? Whenever you hear people speak in this 
way, you may know that they have but a very imperfect 
knowledge of the gospel of our salvation. If we had been 
worthy there would have been no need at all of the blessed 
Jesus leaving the glory of heaven. There would have been no 
need of the bloody and tragic scenes of Gethsemane and Cal- 
vary. To make our salvati .,, . whole or in part, or the per- 
formance of any duty, to ^pend upon our feeling worthy, is 
to dignify unbelief with t^ . name of humility. 

This great sight which Moses beheld, the bush burning and 
yet not consumed, has been regarded by judicious divines as a 
striking emblem of God's suffering church. It may be so re- 
garded from its lowly appearance. It was not in some lofty 
cedar, nor yet in the sturdy and majestic oak, that God ap- 
peared, but on a thorny bush. So the true church of God has 
ever been a lowly and contemptible object in the eyes of the 
wicked world. When she has appeared in pomp, and wealth, 
and fashion, and made herself popular with the world, it has 
been when she had become corrupted and degraded, an object 
over which angels might weep. In the days of Moses tlie 
church was poor and persecuted in Egypt. During our Lord's 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 1 23; 

days on earth the church was composed chiefly of poor fisher- 
men, tax-gatherers, pubUcans, and the common people who 
heard the Great Teacher gladly. In the days of the Apostles 
not many great, or rich, or noble, were called. The same has 
been true all the way down through the ages to the present 
day. Those churches now that aim at the greatest popularity 
have the least. A pure church in the world must be a despised 
and persecuted one , for it is still true, that if any man will 
live Godly in Christ Jesus he will suffer persecution. Christ 
did not intend that the power of his religion 'should consist 
in outward grandeur, such as attracts the common eye; hence 
he instituted no pompous ceremonies, no gorgeous displays, but 
his worship was to be the modest and unpretending out-com- 
ings of a renewed heart 

The bush burning with fire is a fit emblem of the suffering 
condition of the church in all ages The people of God have 
been an afflicted people Their pathway has been hard and 
rough, marked with their tears, and often with their blood. 
But this has been turned to our spiritual profit ; for though the 
fire was severe it was also purifying Their trials preserved 
them from the dross of the world, made them a separate and 
peculiar people, the chaff only was consumed, not the wheat. 
The dispensation under which we live is that of the cross, 
hence as one of suffering The church is to follow her great 
Head . and He was made perfect through suffering. His dy- 
ing legacy to his people, was peace, His own peace, but he 
accompanied it with the assurance that in the world they 
should have tribulation. 

But the burning bush also told of the preservation of the 
church . the bush was not consumed The church has always 
prospered and increased in the fire : so that it became a pro- 
verb, that " The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the 
church. ' She has flashed out her brightest glories upon the 
world through the flames of martyrdom. The reason is, that 
she is founded upon the rock of God's immutability. She does 
not draw her life and strength from the geilius, the fortitude, 
or the self-sacrifice of her friends : no, it is up at the Divine 



124 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

Throne that she gets her strength for every trial. She takes 
her stand upon her Lord's unchangeableness which makes her 
vital with immortality. We see the church in every condition 
of trouble and trial, in looking over the history of the past we 
see her in the ark moving majestically through a world of waters, 
with Jehovah for her pilot ; and resting securely at last on 
Mount Ararat. We see her in those weeping hosts by the 
rivers of Babylon, whose harps, indeed, are silent only that they 
may listen to the cheering voice of Israel's God. In the pil- 
lar of cloud and in the pillar of light we see her sheltered by 
God's own hand from the malignant hate of her enemies. In 
this protection Daniel rejoiced in the lion's den; and the three 
Hebrews prove its sufficiency in the fiery furnace. And were 
all the uncounted multitudes of Christ's confessors to speak 
together at this hour, their voices would roll forth like the 
sound of many waters, saying, " The gates of hell shall not 
prevail against us." 

Another respect in which the burning bush was an emblem 
of the church was, God's presence in its midst. It is of the 
church that it is said, " God is in the midst of her, she shall 
not be moved." The dying Wesley said, " The best of all is, 
God is with us." No wonder that the people of the Lord have 
been happy in dungeons, rejoiced on scaffolds, and shouted out 
their dying triumphs from the midst of the flames that con- 
sumed them. They had the living God for their companion. 
He still walks in the midst of the golden candle-sticks ; and 
blesses with his presence the two or three assembled in his 
name. Thus Divine comfort is imparted to the sorrowful, the 
weak renew their strength, the timid are made bold, and the 
whole army of the Lord, animated by the presence of the Cap- 
tain of their salvation, go forth with invincible might, conquer- 
ing and to conquer. Yes, if we have the presence and good 
will of Him who dwelt in the bush, we need fear no evil ; for 
*' Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord." 

On the other hand, what calamity so great as to be forsaken 
of God ; infinitely better to lose friends, health, property, and 
life itself, than to be forsaken of Him. As Pharaoh and his 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. J2- 

host went down like lead in the mighty waters, as the Canaan- 
itish kings were destroyed without mercy; as Amalek was 
swept out of existence ; as Belshazzar perished with his bias 
phemies on his lips^ as Herod was eaten up of worms ; so shall 
perish the Godforsaken every-where. As heaps of chaff before 
the whirlwind, as stubble before the devouring flame, so shall 
all those be who set themselves against the Lord and his 
anointed. 

" Before the throne of God above 
I have a strong, a perfect plea ; 
A great High Priest, whose name is Love, 
Who ever lives and pleads for me. 

*' My name is graven on His hands, 
My name is written on His heart ; 
I know that, while in heaven He stands, 
No tongue can bid me thence depart. 

" When Satan tempts me to despair, 

And tells me of the guilt within, 

Upward I look, and see Him there 

Who made an end of all my sin. 

" Because the sinless vSavior died. 
My sinful soul is counted free ; 
I For God, the Just, is satisfied 

To look on Him and pardon me. 

" Behold Him there ' the bleeding Lamb .' 
My perfect, spotless Righteousness, 
The great unchangeable ' I am,' 
The King of glory and of grace. 

" One with Himself, I cannot die ; 

My soul is purchased by his blood ; 
My life is hid with Christ on high. 

With Christ iny Savior and my God." 



T26 THE world's HOPE. 



CHAPTER IX. 
MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. [Continued.] 

It is not my intention, nor the design of this book, to write 
the full history of Moses ; but only to refer to those events 
that particularly brought out and displayed his great faith in 
God. We therefore pass by his many interviews with Pharaoh 
and the wonderful miracles by which he proved the divinity of 
his mission. The proud tyrant had cried, " Who is the Lord, 
that I should obey him ?" and had got such an answer to that 
question as God alone can give. The morning has at last 
dawned that is to witness the emancipation of the chosen peo- 
ple from bondage. With his vast charge and weighty respon- 
sibility upon his mind, Moses is calm and serene. He knows 
that God is with him. We see that vast host of men, women 
and children, go forth winding by the skirts of the great wil- 
derness till they come to a place called Pihahiroth, on the 
shore of the Red Sea. As far as human eye could see it was 
the most dangerous situation that could be chosen for so vast 
an army. On each side of them towered up gloomy and im- 
passable mountains ; in front of them rolled the dark waves of 
the sea; while behind them came thundering on the old tyrant 
with his men of war, his horses and chariots. 

We can scarcely conceive of a more trying situation than 
that in which Moses is now placed ; for added to the outward 
dangers we have spoken of, a murmuring and seditious spirit 
had sprung up among the people. They ungratefully forgot all 
that had been done for them, and said, " Because there were 
no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wil- 
derness ?" One comfort he had, and that is, that it was God 
himself who, by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire 
by night, had lead them into that situation. We may come 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 127 

into difficulty while walking in the path of duty and guided 
by the providence of God ; but in that case we need fear no 
evil. A storm may arise and threaten us with disaster, as in 
the case of the Disciples ; but the Lord will be seen coming 
through the storm, bringing aid and comfort, and ultimate 
deliverance. 

How nobly the faith of the man of God stood the test on 
this occasion ! With a calm courage, and an unwavering in- 
trepidity, he meets the hour of trial. Above the murmuring 
of the people, above the moaning and surging of the waves of 
the sea, his voice rings out the inspiring words, " Fear ye not ; 
stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will 
show you to-day ; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, 
ye shall see them again no more forever." 

In this emergency the prophet betook himself to prayer. We 
are not told that it was public prayer, that is, that he gathered 
the people together. Neither are we told that he retired by 
himself for secret prayer. His public duties did not allow him 
time for that ; and yet that he was praying we learn from the 
words of the Lord. " Why criest thou unto me V It was what 
we call ejaculatory prayer ; that is, while he was busy outwardly 
going among the people, he was, in his heart, busy with God. 
This is a kind of prayer that we can put forth anywhere. In 
the crowded railroad car, in the steamboat, in the bustle of the 
city streets, in the work-shop, or in the counting-room, amid 
the talk of our fellow-men, we can be talking with Jehovah. 

But while there is a time for prayer, there is also a time for 
action, and that time had now come. The Lord said, " Speak 
to the children of Israel that they go forward." Here was 
another trial of faith. To go forward was seemingly to go into 
the sea. To obey seemed like going to destruction. But the 
man of God does not hesitate for a moment. Marshaling the 
people into proper order, we see him leading them down the 
sloping beach till the waves kiss his feet. There is a pause — 
a moment of suspense among the vast throng. The man of 
God lifts the rod, and the waters rolling back, stand like a 
protecting wall on either side ; and on, through the spacious 



128 THE world's HOPE. 

pathway which Divine power had made for them, the heaven- 
protected people take their triumphant way. Soon they stand 
m safety on the opposite shore, sending up their glad song of 
deliverance to the God of their salvation. How poetical and 
grand is the Psalmist's description of this event. " The waters 
saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee ; they were afraid ; the 
depths also were troubled." 

When wicked men are doomed to destruction, they are left 
to be controlled by a dreadful infatuation. This was the case 
with Pharaoh and his generals. Mad with rage and blood- 
thirsty hate, they came rushing on, and plunged into the open- 
ing of the waters. Wild confusion, a fearful panic, takes hold 
of them. They would gladly retreat, but it is too late. With a 
crash, as if the foundations of the earth were giving away, the 
piled up waters come together and bury the proud hosts under 
those waves that roll and curl as if nothing had happened. 

We spoke of Moses as being a great poet. If any one doubts 
this, let him read the song of deliverance which he prepared 
on this occasion. We find it in the fifteenth chapter of Exo- 
dus, and it rises and swells into such inspiring strains, that we 
seem to be listening to the shouts of a victorious host, mingled 
with the crash of martial music, and the dashing of the waves 
of the sea. We seem to see the mighty arm of God lifting up 
that proud army and casting it into the depths of the sea, as 
easy as the man of might could plunge a stone there. How 
sublime when he speaks of the breath of the Lord as piling 
up the waters ; and then as drying up the channels, that the re- 
deemed of theLord might go through. With what graphic power 
does he describe the rage, the fury, and the haughty boasting 
of the tyrant, " I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the 
spoil ; my lust shall be satisfied upon them ; I will draw my 
sword, my hand shall destroy them." His words thrill us like 
the blast of a trumpet, when he says, "Thou didst blow with 
thy wind, the sea covered them ; they sank as lead in the mighty 
waters." No person of taste can read this sublime composi- 
tion, whatever may be his views on the subject of the divine 
inspiration of the Bible without pleasure. 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. I29 

After the many proofs of the power and goodness of God 
which this people had experienced, we might suppose that they 
Miould never doubt or murmur again. But that man knows 
but little of his own heart, and little of human nature in gen- 
eral, who would indulge such a hope. Soon as their provisions 
became exhausted and starvation threatened them with its 
gaunt visage, they again began to pour out their vile and un- 
grateful reproaches against their leader. "Would to God that 
we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, 
when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to 
the full ; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to 
kill this whole assembly with hunger." 

Alas ! may we not see in this a dark* picture of our own 
hearts ! All that Divine love nas done for us in the past is 
forgotten, the very first, trial into which we are brought. As if 
the God of the past was not the God of the present also, we 
send out our atheistic cry, as if we felt ourselves in a father- 
less world. Instead of sending thunder-bolts to destroy this 
people, the Holy One of Israel, in great mercy, rains down 
upon them bread from heaven. When they looked out from 
their tents one morning they were struck with wonder to see 
something lying upon the ground like hoar frost, white and 
beautiful, and about the size of a coriander seed. It lay all 
around the camp, and on tasting it, was found to be sweet as 
honey. They cried out, ''Man-hue,'' which signifies, "What is • 
this.?" 

This manna our Lord tells us was an emblem of himself; 
for he says, " I am the bread of life that cometh down from 
heaven." The manna was not a work or composition of man 
at all. No human agent could proudly say, " this is my inven- 
tion ; I have brought deliverance to this people." No, it came 
direct from heaven. So it is with the plan of salvation ; it is 
purely of Divine origin. All the sages of the world would 
never have thought of it ; all the angels in heaven could never 
have devised it. The appearance of this manna was not very 
attractive, it was small and insignificant. So when our Lord 
came it was like "a root out of a dry ground." He made 



130 THE world's hope. 

himself of no reputation ; He came in the form of a servant, 
meek and lowly in spirit. 

This manna was given to the people freely. This murmur- 
ing people had no claims; no demand upon God for it. It 
was not to be bought ; but was the gift of free grace. All were 
at liberty to gather it who complied with the terms. So is it 
with salvation. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus 
Christ. We can put in no claim but that of our entirely undone 
condition. 

The manna was given in rich abundance. There was no 
need of any one perishing of hunger ; if he did the fault was 
entirely his own. So the gospel feast is abundant ; there is 
enough for the whole family of Adam. It is not like our 
heavenly Father to give a general call to the whole world, 
while he only, makes provision for a portion of it. No, Christ 
"tasted death for every man." 

This bread from heaven never failed the people of Israel, as 
long as they remained in the wilderness. And so long as the 
believer remains in the wilderness of the world, Christ will 
never fail him. We shall still have his arm to lean upon. 
Still have his presence to comfort us, and even through the dark 
and gloomy valley of death, his unfailing support shall not be 
wanting. 

As the manna was to be gathered daily, so we are to live 
daily on Christ. The experience of last week or of last year, 
will not suffice for to-day. Let this thought rebuke those 
whose hope is centered upon an experience that lies in the dead 
past. Ask such persons if they are rejoicing in a present 
knowledge of sin forgiven,Jn a present acceptance with God 
through the blood of atonement, and y6u are referred to joys 
felt and hopes cherished many years ago. Ah ! my friend, this 
will not do. It is Christ in you now the hope of glory. More 
needful than your daily bread is a daily faith in Jesus. 

This manna was to be gathered early in the morning. So is 
it highly desirable that all should come to Christ in the morn- 
ing of life. "They that seek me early shall find me." The 
salvation of the soul neglected till old age is almost a certain 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 



131 



seal of damnation. The heart gets hardened, the habits of 
sin become strong as a chain of destiny to bind hoary sinners, 
and trembling under the palsy of a spiritual death the soul 
sinks into the dark prison-house of despair. But oh, how 
blessed the sou Ithat has early chosen Christ ! Its pathway is 
brighter and brighter to the perfect day ; that day of eternal 
glory, that shall be followed by no evening gloom. The glow 
of young affection, the sweet simplicity of early confidence, 
the warmth and fervor of youthful love, and the full vigor and 
strength of the days of health, all given to Jesus, is a sight 
over which angels rejoice, and in which the Lord of angels 
sees of the travel of his soul and is satisfied. 

At last the children of Israel have reached Rephidim ; and 
here a new trial of the faith of Moses awaits him. There is 
no water for the vast multitudes, and hence death stares them 
in the face. Cast your eyes over that vast arid plain, and 
mark the scene of misery that meets your sight. All vegeta- 
tion withers and dies under the burning heat. Children with 
parched throats cry to their mothers for water, but there is 
none to give them. Not a drop of the cooling beverage can 
be found to moisten even the lips of the dying; and strong 
men go about with bloodshot eyes, and a feeling as if an inter- 
nal fire was consuming them. The cry of distress from the 
infuriated animals mingles with the cry of the camp ; and the 
concentrated wrath of the perishing people falls upon the head 
of Moses. Fierce and terrible must have been their invec- 
tives, for he camplains to the Lord, saying, "What shall I do 
unto this people .? they be almost ready to stone me." The 
Lord commands him to ascend the mountain, and strike with 
his rod a certain rock from which a stream of water should 
flow. How unlikely was this to the eye of sense. Water from 
a rock, and that by merely striking it with a rod, would seem a 
very unlikely thing. If a strong company of sappers and 
mmers had been sent forth with spades and crowbars, the 
people might have said, "Ah! they will soon find the water 
for us." But the work was done in such a way as to show that 
God's was all the glory. 



132 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



And now we see Moses in the sight of all the people, ap- 
proach that old gray rock, on whose wrinkled brow the angry 
tempests of a thousand years had beat in vain. All is hushed 
expectation in the camp. Life and death depend upon the 
issue of the trial that is to be made. The face of the man of 
God is calm and untroubled. With him is no doubt— no fear. 
For God to promise, is for him to believe. He lifts the rod — 
once, twice, three times he strikes the rock ; and forth leaps 
the gushing waters, flashing in the rays of the sun. Down 
rolls the life-giving stream, and forth come the rejoicing 
thousands to drink freely. Mothers are seen running with all 
the energies of love to carry water to their children, while 
others hasten to supply the sick and the dying. How foolish 
would the man be who, almost dying of thirst, would refuse to 
drink until he first ascertained that he had been ordained, 
from all eternity, to drink of those waters. There, with 
parched mouth and bloodshot eyes, he sits down by the rush- 
ing stream, and says, " If I am ordained to drink of these 
waters, I will drink of them, but if not, it is no use for me to 
try." You would say to such a man, "Why, my friend, these 
waters were intended for all who thirst ; you are among the 
number who do so, therefore at once drink and live. 

But here is another who refuses to drink because he says he 
is not yet worthy enough. He must wait till he is a much 
better man than he is now. To him you would say, " These 
waters were not given because any of the people were worthy, 
but are the free gift of God's goodness. Therefore drink and 
live. 

Those waters would not only be used to quench thirst, but 
to cleanse and purify, also. Soon as the people had quenched 
their thirst, and felt new life invigorate their frame, they 
would also wash and be clean. But suppose you were to see 
a man dying of thirst, yet refusing to touch one drop of the 
water, because he tells you he is not clean enough to do so ; 
how great would you think his folly. You would tell him that 
this water is the only cleansing element he can obtain ; and 
would urge him first to drink, and then with the new life thus 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 1 33 

obtained to wash and be clean. So is it with the blood of 
Jesus ; it not only saves us from eternal death, but cleanseth us 
from the love of sin. The whole human race are at this mo- 
men divided into two classes; those who have been saved and 
cleansed by that blood, and those who have not. To one or 
other of those classes you now belong. The application of 
the blood of Jesus makes a difference between men as great as 
between heaven and hell. Jesus, however, must be taken as a 
complete Savior. He came not to help you to save yourself, 
but must have the whole glory of the work. That work is 
perfect ; to it you can add nothing ; and oh, do not insult him 
by trying to do so ! 

Before the Iffe-giving water could come from that rock, it 
had to be first smitten. This was done by divine command. 
It would not have sufficed to wave the rod over the rock, nor 
to lay it down upon it gently ; the very thing must be done 
that God commanded, or not one drop of water could come 
forth. So our adorable Redeemer was stricken, smitten of 
God, and afflicted. The sword of justice must strike Him, 
because He stood in the place of sinners. Hence we are told 
that without the shedding of blood there could be no remis- 
sion of sin. Hence, also, in the. seventeenth chapter of Le- 
viticus, we have these words : " It is the blood that maketh an 
atonement for the soul." The Lord took our place that we 
might take his place. Our sin was put upon Him, that His 
righteousness might be put upon us. Oh, amazing grace ! Oh. 
boundless love ! Dear reader, will you not look to thai 
Savior this moment, and be saved ? 

" There is life for a look at the Crucified One ; 
There is life at this moment for thee ; 
Then look, sinner — look unto Him, and be saved — 
Unto Him who was nailed to the Tree. 

" Oh i why was He there as the bearer of sin, 
If on Jesus //ly sins were not laid? 
Oh ! why from his side flowed the sin-cleansing blood, 
If his dying M^debt has not paid? 



134 IHE WORLDS HOPE. 

" It is not thy lears of repentance, or prayers, 
But THE BLOOD that atones for the soul ; 
On Him, then, who shed it, thou mayest at once 
Thy weight of iniquities roll. 

"His anguish of soul on the cross hast thou seen, 
His cry of distress hast thou heard? 
Then, why, if the terror of wrath He endured, 
Should pardon to thee be deferr'd ? 

'' We are healed by His stripes ; — wouldst thou add to the word? 
And He is our righteousness made ; 
The best robe of heaven he bids thee put on ; 
Oh ! could'st thou be better arrayed ? 

We have thus seen how the faith of Moses again triumphed. 
In reading some account of the labors of the Rev. John 
Eliot among the Indians, we were struck with these words : " I 
have not been dry, night or day, from the third day of the 
week unto the sixth, but so traveled ; and at night pull off my 
boots and wring my stockings, and on with them again, and so 
continue, but God steps in and helps T Yes; it may well be 
said that, " the hour of our extremity is the hour of His op- 
portunity." When all human help steps out and leaves us, He 
steps in Ah ! How pleasant to hear the sound of his foot- 
steps approaching, but still more glorious to have His very 
presence with us. To resign what we have been trying to do 
with trembling hands and failing strength; and to see Him 
take it up, with the certainty of success, is happiness indeed. 
The very memory of such gracious interference on their be- 
half, will fill the mouths of the people of God with songs of 
gratitude forever. 

But no sooner is one trial over with the man of God, than 
another comes. They tread upon each others' heels. Like 
the waves of the ocean they come in quick succession. While 
the Israelites were yet in a weakened condition, the Amalekites 
came, in a most cowardly and treacherous manner, and at- 
tacked the camp. Moses at once sent forth Joshua, with a 
band of br.ive warriors, to repel the foe. There was,- in sight 
of the battle field, a hill, to the top of which Moses ascended, 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. 135 

Aaron and Hur being his attendants. There the man of God 
engaged in prayer for the success of the army of Israel. It 
was noticed that while he held his hands up toward heaven, 
Israel prevailed, but when, through fatigue, they drooped, then 
Amalek prevailed. Hence, Aaron and Hur, one on each side, 
held up the hands of the servant of the Lord, till their ene- 
mies were driven from the field. 

Moses was a man who lived very near God; but he was no 
fanatic. He unites prayer and exertion together, as they ever 
ought to be. He is on the mount pleading and wrestling with 
God, while Joshua was below with his brave followers, with 
invincible courage doing battle for the right. As this' was the 
first battle that Israel had fought, no doubt their patriotic 
leader felt peculiarly anxious for a comi)lete victory. It would 
inspire the people with fresh courage to meet the difficulties 
that lay before them in the future ; and increase their confi- 
dence in the ultimate success of the undertaking. 

What a mighty power is prayer when it springs forth from a 
believing heart ! Then it is that we see the enectual, fervent 
prayer of the righteous man availing much. The man who 
has the true spirit of prayer is happy above all others. God 
may not always give him what he asks, for that would not 
always be for his good. Indeed, we often ask for that which, 
if given, would bring upon us destruction. But his prayer will 
be answered in this, that the spirit of holy resignation will be 
imparted to him. When our will is lost in God's we are truly 
happy. A sweet repose, a* holy calm comes over the soul ; 
which is a foretaste of the rest that remains for the people of 
God. 

How happy was Moses to have such noble co-workers as 
Aaron and Hur ! And happy is that minister of the gospel 
who has those around him who hold up his hands by faith and 
prayer. Easy is it to preach and labor under such circum- 
stances. The enemies of the Lord are then driven back, the 
cause of truth advances gloriously, and the song of victory 
breaks forth from the heart that was sinking under a load of 
despondency. 



136 THE world's hope. 

When Moses was pleading for Israel his hands began to 
hang down. Human weakness will show itself in the strongest ; 
for, as Mathew Henry says, " The best of men are but men at 
the best." But we have a great Intercessor in the heavens, 
who never grows weary, whose hands never hang down, and 
who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. When con- 
scious of guilt, the thought of His intercession brings true 
comfort to the believer. The new nature within him makes 
him loathe and bate sin. On feeling its workings in his heart, 
he can say with Job, " I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
ashes." In such a state of mind the words of the apostle 
come like a breeze from paradise : " If any man sin, he hath 
an advocate with the Father." 

In reading this case of successful intercession on the part of 
Moses, we cannot help joining it with another case, that oc- 
curred some time later. We have an account of it in the 
thirty-third chapter of Exodus. It is when he went to plead 
forgiveness for the great sin of making and worshiping the 
golden calf. It is a passage in the history of this good man, 
so richly edifying that it should be read again and again, and 
reflected upon with deepest reverence. It is something like a 
rich mine of gold, the more it is wrought the richer the supply. 
In the conversation with God which is here recorded, we can- 
not help noticing the simple-heartedness of the Prophet. He 
fully unbosomed himself, and pours out his whole heart. He 
has now had some experience of what kind of a people he has 
to deal with, and of the difficulties with which he will have to 
contend ; and he feels that to have power with the people, he 
must first have power with God. 

The Lord acknowledges the full power of his plea. He 
condescends to talk with this poor feeble mortal face to face. 
He listens to his appeals for help, not only Avith patience, but 
even with approval. He does not chide him for his boldness; 
but, on the contrary, acknowledges the full force of every word 
he says. Moses felt bowed down under a sense of his own 
unfitness for the work before him ; and pleads for God to ga 
with him, with an intensity of earnestness, that almost makes us. 



MOSES. THE MAN OF GOD. I37 

tremble as we read of it. We almost feel as if he were going 
loo far. But the reply comes, " My presence shall go with thee, 
and I will give thee rest." We would think that here the 
prophet would stop. But no ; his mind is in so anxious a state, 
the issues involved are so tremendous, that he comes nearer 
and still more urgently presses his request, when the reply 
again comes, " I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken ; 
for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by 
name." 

Emboldened by this success Moses ventures still further. 
Indeed, he had been drawing nearer and nearer through the 
whole of the interview. A holy familiarity had been going on, 
till it reaches a climax that overwhelms us with astonishment. 
The man of God now takes such a position as no mortal man 
ever took before, as he exclaims, " I beseech thee, show me thy 
glory." Oh, what a request to come from a poor worm of the 
earth ! We expect to see him repelled with indignation. We 
look for the thunderbolt to leap forth for his destruction ; or to 
see him flung to the base of the mountain a ghastly corpse. 
But no. Instead of that we hear the gracious words, " I will 
make all my goodness to pass before thee." The great Jeho- 
vah engages to show him all that he can bear in his present 
state. He is assured that the full unveiled glory of the God- 
head he could not see and live. But he agrees to show him 
all that he can bear ; and to deny him nothing that will be pos- 
sible for his mortal condition. 

Here we have a sight which for sublimity and moral gran- 
deur is without a parallel in the history of our race. That hand 
that guides the stars in their courses, that regulates the course 
of the flaming comet, that tunes the thunder's roar, and modi- 
fies the rage of the lightning's flash, takes this man of mighty 
faith and puts him in the cleft of a rock, that he may show him 
his glory and make all his goodness pass before him. Ten- 
derly the great Jehovah puts his hand over his feeble creature, 
that the full splendor of the Godhead may not consume him. 
Christ is represented as a rock in the cleft of which we can 
hide and be safe. 



138 THE world's hope. 

" Rock of ages cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee." 

When we look at God in Christ we can behold him without 
a veil between ; and yet know that to us he is not a con- 
suming fire. 

There was Moses alone with God, amid the deep solitudes 
of that rugged, wild and sublime scenery. We see him 
rising early in the morning, brushing away t^e early dew, and 
climbing up the craggy summit that he may be alone with God. 
No doubt that a deep and profound awe rested upon his mind ; 
but there is no evidence that he felt anything like dread. No, 
he loved God, and perfect love casteth out fear. Hence he was 
ready to go into any solitary place,to be alone with Him he loved. 

Now, my reader, what would you think of such an interview 
with your Maker ; of such a face to face converse with the Lord 
of the universe."* Suppose that you were informed that you 
might have such an interview this very night, would you gladly 
accept the offer ? Would your heart leap with joy at the pro- 
posal ? If you knew God through his Son, you would ; but if 
not, your heart would quake within you under a consciousness 
of guilt. God seen through the law produces nothing but ter- 
ror. Paul says, " When the commandment came sin revived 
and I died," He had studied that law under the great doctors 
of the age, but that was mere theory ; but when the spirituality 
of the law was brought home to his heart, sin after sin came 
up and filled him with condemnation. In like manner when 
Moses saw God through the law he said, " I exceedingly fear 
and quake." But when he saw God through atoning blood, all 
his fears fled away as the morning fog disappears before the 
rising glories of the sun. 

No wonder that when Moses came down from the mount, 
where such glorious manifestations had been made to him, 
his face shone with luster too bright for the people of Israel 
to look upon. The impression of God and of eternal truth 
which he had obtained reflected themselves upon his counte- 
nance, and made him appear like an angel of brightness come 
from the upper glory. 



MOSES. THE MAN OK GOD. 1 39 

This personal knowledge of God was of more value to him 
as a leader than all his previous studies had been. No study, 
no learning, no eloquence can be a substitute for this, in one 
who would lead the people of God, or in any way do good in 
the world. Those sweet hours of communion with heaven 
were infinitely more valuable to the prophet than all the learn- 
ing of the Egyptians. 

Unconverted reader, I ask you to come to God through 
Jesus. Do not halt or hesitate, for while you do so the great 
gulf will soon be fixed between you and heaven. Your char- 
acter is now forming and will soon be stereotyped forever. In- 
decision soon becomes decision. You decide for hell while 
you only think that you are wavering about heaven ! 

**Go up, go up, my heart, 

Dwell with thy God above ; 
For here thou canst not rest, 
Nor here give out thy love. 

" Go up, go up, my heart, 
Be not a Irifler liere ; 
Ascend above these clouds. 
Dwell in a higher sphere. 

" Let not thy love flow out 

To things so soiled and dim, 
Go up, to heaven and God, 
Take up thy love to him. 

" Waste not thy precious stores 
On creature-love below ; 
To God that wealth belongs, 
On him that wealth bestow. 

** Go up, reluctant heart. 
Take up thy rest above ; 
Arise, earth-clinging thoughts, 
Ascend, my lingering love." 



I40 THE WORLD S HOPE. 



CHAPTER X. 
MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI. 

We now approach one of the most important periods in the 
life of Moses. He has come back to the place where he had 
received his great commission, according to the promise then 
made to him : " Certainly, I will be with thee ; and this shall be 
a token unto thee that I have sent. thee. When thou hast 
brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon 
this mountain." 

That wonderful column of cloud and fire, which had hereto- 
fore been their heaven-appointed guide, now moved up to the 
top of Mount Sinai. These were familiar scenes to the man of 
God. Here, in retirement, away from the din and turmoil of 
the world, his soul had been disciplined for true greatness.' 
There are scarcely any who have left their impress upon the 
world for good, who have not been first fitted for that preemi- 
nence by retirement. 

It was now the purpose of God to display his glory and 
make known his will to this people, in such a way as had not 
before been done. He was about to take them into covenant 
with himself, as a highly honored and favored people ; by 
giving them written laws and established institutions of a typi- 
cal character. If they would obev his voice, and walk accord- 
ing to the statutes he would give them, he promised to make 
them his peculiar pleasure above all nations ; and the people 
cried out, as with one voice : " All that the Lord has spoken 
will we do." 

But before the law was to be proclaimed three days were to 
elapse as days of preparation. Outwardly they were to wash 
and cleanse themselves, and inwardly they were to be filled 
with a deep conviction of their own sinfulness, and of the holi- 



MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI. I4I 

ness of that Great Jehovah who was about to address them. A 
barrier was placed around the mountain, across which neither 
man nor beast was to pass ; for even to touch the sacred en- 
closure was to incur the penalty of instant death. 

We can easily conceive something of the solemn hush of 
expectation which would fall upon the people, while all the 
preparations were gomg on. Many an anxious and eager look 
would be turned towards that rugged mountain, and many 
conjectures would be whispered from mouth to mouth, regard- 
ing the events about to take place. 

At last the morning of the third day dawns. The whole 
masses are moved with one common excitement. The camp 
is all alive under the influence of thrilling expectations. At 
-the doors of the tents are seen crowds of anxious faces, waiting 
to know what is next to be done. The proclamation of Moses 
is spread, among them, calling upon them to come and meet 
with God. There they stand in solemn awe, every tongue 
silent, and every murmur hushed. The deep and profound 
stillness of the vast throng is at last broken by the outburst of 
the elements. The mountain seemed shaken to its very foun- 
dations, vivid sheets of blinding flame came from out of the 
dark cloud, and terrific crashes of thunder made the most 
careless tremble. A black cloud wraps Sinai from view ; and, 
piercing through that cloud, and breaking upon the ears of the 
trembling people, comes the sound of a trumpet exceeding 
loud. God has come down amid that fire and smoke, and not 
only do the millions of Israel tremble, but the mountain waves 
to and fro under the tramp of God's footstep ; while the very 
earth quivers at the presence of its Lord. Ah ! we can imag- 
ine how, with pale faces and quivering lips, friends would cling 
to each other ; and children, with screams of distress, entreat 
their mothers to carry them from the dreadful scene. 

But hark ! another sound is heard : it is the voice of God 
commanding Moses to come up to him to the mount. Will he 
go up amid the smoke and tempest, and the sounding of Hea- 
ven's dread artillery ? Every eye is fixed upon him ; but he 
does not hesitate for a moment. With calm and tranquil look 



142 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

he moves forward through the boundary line, and is lost to 
sight as he enters the cloud. For forty days and nights he 
there remained alone with Jevovah. There he received the 
ten commandments, inscribed by the finger of God himself, 
upon two tables of stone. This whole scene is awfully grand, 
and brings before our minds the solemn events of the day of 
judgment, when the trumpet shall sound and its peals echo from 
pole to pole, break upon the ear of the slumbering dead, and 
bring them forth to give an account of the deeds done in the 
body. 

We are told that such was the effect upon the people, of the 
sights and sounds of Sinai, that, retreating in terror from the 
mountain, they cried out to Moses : " Speak thou to us ; but 
let not the Lord speak to us lest we die." Oh, happy those 
who, in the day of account shall have the Great Advocate to 
come between God and them, claiming them as the purchase 
of his own blood. 

While standing at Sinai there are some most important les- 
sons that we may learn. One of these is the greatness of the 
God with whom we have to do. W^hen man was first called 
into being the law of his Lord was written upon his heart, en- 
graved upon his very soul, and no scenes of terror were 
required to impress it upon his mind. His soul as naturally 
ascended to God as the grass grows upwards, or as the rivers 
run down hill. But he became a rebel, and the law had again- 
to be proclaimed, amid those displays of power of which we 
have spoken. That God still holds man to a strict accounta- 
bility. We must soon meet Him ; and it must be either as par- 
doned or unpardoned sinners. It cannot be doubted that it 
must be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a being whose 
law and gospel have both been dispised. Oh come then to 
a shelter from the stormy blast, provided by infinite love ! It 
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, while 
trying to put the rags of your own righteousness in the place 
of the spotless fobe which Jesus has provided. 

In the conduct of the people of Israel at the foot of Mount 
Sinai, we see an awful proof of the depravity of our race. 



MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI. I43 

Scarcely had the sound of the thunders and the trumpet and 
the voice of the Lord died away upon their ears, than we see 
them upon their knees before an idol God of their own mak- 
ing. O how base and ungrateful ! The Lord had delivered 
them from bondage the most degrading and painful ; had made 
them a highway through the waters of the sea, the surging bil- 
lows of which found a grave for their enemies ; had brought 
waters from the flinty rock, and rained down bread from 
heaven ; and yet all this is forgotten. The same place that 
had but lately witnessed their pale faces and trembling fears, 
their pledges publicly given that they would serve the Lord, 
now witnesses their profane mirth, mingled with their horrid 
idolatry. 

In them we see a true picture of ourselves. How often have 
we broken our vows and falsified our best resolutions. How 
often we have forgotten God and turned to our idols. Our 
proper place is in the dust before Him. It is natural for us to 
think highly of ourselves, but we can gain nothing by such 
folly. It may be very painful to knOw the worst about our- 
selves, but thus only can we know the best about Jesus. We 
must be emptied of self in order to be filled with Christ. 

This law given, amidst such solemnity, was good and just and 
perfect. It was worthy of our love and obedience. It was the 
moral likeness of the Creator, and had his glorious perfections 
stamped upon it. To violate the law was to incur great guilt, 
and bring upon the soul a tremendous, curse. That curse is 
on every man out of Christ. No attempts of his own can ever 
remove it. No tears, no prayers, no reformation of conduct 
can bring the soul from under its condemnation. There is but 
one name given under heaven that can bring us deliverance. 
It is the name of Jesus. He has kept that law, honored it, and 
magnified it. He bore the curse of it for us ; and none need 
fall under its condemnation if they go to him by simple faith. 

We are told of a poor boy, a shoeblack in one of our East- 
ern cities, who had heard the story of the cross at a mission 
Sabbath school. He was stricken with disease, and expected 
to die. His teacher went to see him and found both his 



144 THE world's hope, 

parents drunk, and the dying boy quite neglected. " Shall 1 
bring you a nurse or medicine?" said the teacher. "No, I 
only want to ask you two questions. Did Jesus die for all of 
us.?" "Yes, my boy, he did." "Well, will he save all who 
come to him.?" " Yes, he will." "Thank God he has saved 
me," said the dying boy, and his head fell upon his breast. 
His soul had gone to be forever with the Lord. 

" Grace is flowing like a river ; 

Millions there have been supplied ; 
Still it flows as full as ever 

From the Savior's wounded side." 

Our Lord's substitution was a perfect one. The blood shed 
was that of God in our nature; and therefore can wash away 
the blackest stains. Had he been but a man, we might well 
be afraid to venture our eternal all upon him. No where can 
we see the beauty of the gospel more clearly than at Sinai. 
There we learn that by the works of the law, no flesh can be 
justified. In the midst of terror and flashing lightnings and 
rolling thunders the law came, while humanity trembled before 
its just and infallible demands; but the gospel came in the 
stillness of the night, spoken by the sweet voices of angels, and 
telling of peace and the good will of God to men. The law 
says, "The soul that sinneth it shall die;" the gospel says, 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." 
The law comes with frowns and threatenings ; the gospel with 
smiles and invitations. The law wounds; the gospel heals. 
The law kills ; the gospel makes alive. 

Blessed be God, the gospel reveals the greatest of Saviors 
for the greatest of sinners. He is mighty to save. He comes 
traveling in the greatness of his strength, with garments dyed 
in blood, and hands stretched out to save you from going down 
to the pit. In the French Revolution we are told of a young 
man who was condemned to the guillotine, and shut up in one 
of the prisons. He had many friends who loved him well, but 
one who loved him above all others. How did that person 
prove this? Why, by giving up his life for him. It was his 



MOSES ON MOUNT SINAT. I45 

own father, and when the lists were called, his name being the 
same as the son s, he answered for him, rode out in the gloomy 
death-cart for him, and for him had his head cut off by the 
cruel instrument of death. In this see a faint picture of the 
love of your Savior. Your name was on the condemned list. 
You would surely have died. But Jesus took your place. 
Come to him and your name will no longer be on the con- 
demned list ; for he takes your condemnation upon himself. 
There is no condemnation to them who are in Christ. They 
are set free forever. 

Leaving the solemn scenes of Mount Sinai the Israelites 
were marched into the wilderness of Paran. Here the old 
spirit of discontent and rebellion began to foment, and soon 
broke out against the Lord and his servant Moses. Even the 
long forbearance of God has an end, and his displeasure was 
kindled against them so that multitudes were destroyed. In 
their vile ingratitude they complained of the very bread that 
was rained down to them from heaven to eat. Such constant 
murmuring and complaining began to weigh down the spirit of 
the man of God, so that he felt the burden of governing such 
a people too heavy for him, and called to the Lord for deliv- 
erance. His prayer was answered, and he was directed to 
choose out seventy elders as a judicial court, to attend to the 
affairs of this great peojile. This was no doubt the origin of 
the great Jewish Sanhedrim, which was in full operation in the 
days pf our Lord. 

And here a circumstance occurred which presents the npirit 
of Moses in a noble light. It seems that the spirit of proph- 
ecy had been given to two young men of the camp, named 
Eldad and Meclad. Some of the prophet's friends being jeal- 
ous for his honor, told him of this and wished him to put a stop 
to it. But he had a mind lifted infinitely above all such paltry 
jealousy. He only wanted good to be done, he cared not where 
or by whom. His exalted reply was, "Would God that all the 
Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his 
spirit upon them." What a beautiful magnanimity was here 
displayed. It reminds us of the spirit and temper shown by 



146 THE world's hope. 

another great man, many centuries afterwards, that is Paul, the 
Apostle of the Gentiles. In his day there were some who 
preached the gospel out of envy, and others from a malignant 
wish to add to his afflictions, already heavy enough ; but in- 
stead of returning evil for evil, his great heart of love spoke 
out in the noble words, " Notwithstanding the gospel is 
preached; and in this I rejoice; yea, and will rejoice." There 
are some small, paltry minds, who cannot rejoice in good 
done, unless it be in connection with their own individual 
efforts. They are ever trumpeting abroad what they have 
done and what they have attempted ; while the self-denying 
efforts of others are past by with indifference or silence. O, 
how unlike the spirit of the Lord Jesus! 

There are others who take but little interest in the work of 
God, unless in connection with their church or their denomi- 
nation. Souls may be converted in hundreds and thousands 
in other churches, but it fills their souls with no gladness, but 
often with a doubtful shake of their heads they seek to cast 
discredit on the whole matter. Now this is far from the lovely 
spirit of the gospel. As long as good is done and precious 
souls saved, let us rejoice in it, and give the work our fullest 
sympathy and heartiest cooperation. 

We have known some ministers who showed themselves 
somewhat jealous of the successful labors of laymen. They 
seem to think that their peculiar preogatives were being en- 
croached upon, and that they must stand up for their profess- 
ional dignity. This is as silly as it is wicked. The world can 
never be converted by ministers alone. They cannot do all the 
work that must be done, and there is a certain class to whom they 
cannot gain access as easily as laymen can. Besides, the Bi- 
ble nowhere tells us that ministers have an exclusive right to 
preach the gospel — a grand monopoly of the work of saving 
sinners. The Bible says, " Let him that heareth say. Come !" 
By teaching in the Sabbath school ; by distributing tracts ; by 
visiting from house to house ; and where they have talents for 
the work, by preaching in destitute places, in school- houses, in 
prisons, in the opeii air, or wherever the masses of the people 



lii.-Ildiiliiili'i,:;!.] 



f' 



i 







MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI. . I47 

congregate ; the who«le membership of the church is to be em- 
ployed. Happy that minister who knows how to organize the 
hosts of the Lord ; and can prove himself d skillful leader, well 
pleased if the Lord condescends to make the humblest of his 
members, more useful than himself. But that narrow-minded 
bigot who, standing upon his professional dignity, looks coldly 
upon all such efforts, can neither have the approbation of God 
nor of good men. 

It is certainly one of the most encouraging signs of the times 
that God is raising up and qualifying so many laymen to en- 
gage in his work. As we see them go forth with the love of 
Christ in their hearts, with fervent zeal, with ready speech, and 
with ability to sway the minds of the masses of men, they bear 
all the evidences of being heaven-sent. In such numbers have 
these sprung up in America, in Britain, and in Germany, that 
we cannot but regard it as one of the signs of the coming of a 
brighter day for Zion. The Lord is choosing these men from 
all classes and conditions of life. In Scotland and in Canada 
he has sent some forth from the ranks of the titled nobility, 
who,. in the drawing-rooms of the rich, as well as in the humble 
home of the poor, are publishing the glad tidings. In other 
cases he is sending out young men who, working at their me- 
chanical employments for their own support, have gone from 
town to town, telling the simple story of the cross with great 
power and wonderful success. In other cases persons are con- 
verted from the lowest and most degraded of the people, living 
way down at the very bottom of society, and these have carried 
the truths of salvation into the circles that the minister of the 
gospel could not reach, and could effect but very little if he 
did. Glory to God for all this ! The work is His ; and woe to 
the man who would cast the least obstacle in the way in order 
to sustain the interests of any particular class. 

Let the minister seek to make every member of his church 
a co-worker with himself and with God, in the world's deliv- 
erance from sin. Let every young convert be taught to be. a 
worker for Jesus every day of his life. Let them understand 
that to cease working for the Savior is a strong evidence of 



148 THE world's hope. 

blacksliding of heart. Let there be a noble emulation of who 
shall do most in their own spheres, and according to the talent 
committed to them, for the honor of the gracious Master. Let 
all ministers cultivate the noble spirit of Moses. " Would to 
God that all the Lord's people were prophets." 

We come now to an event which is full of the richness of 
gospel truth, and which shows how the wisdom and goodness 
of God can bring out of the wickedness of man that which will 
be of world-wide benefit to our race. It has been truly said, that 
sin is the most expensive thing in the whole world. Whether 
it is pardoned or unpardoned, it costs an infinite price. If 
pardoned, it costs the precious blood of God's own Son ; if not 
pardoned it costs an eternity of woe. God will not do any- 
thing to lower the dignity of his own law. It has been dis- 
honored by wicked men and devils ; but all that God does for 
his creature's eternal welfare must be done in such a way as 
to honor that law in the highest degree. That law is essential to 
the happiness of all his intelligent creatures. Hence its honor 
must be kept up, whatever it costs. It did cost avast sacrifice, 
but.it was freely given. *' Not with corruptible things, such as 
silver and gold, were ye redeemed ; but with the precious blood 
of the Son of God." 

While the Israelites lay encamped at Mount Hur, King Arad 
came out in a secret manner and took a number of them pris- 
oners. He gained nothing by this, however, for the men of 
war went forth and destroyed his cities. This success so filled 
them with pride that they thought they could conquer the 
whole land, and march directly into Canaan. Hence they 
murmured about the length of the way by which the Lord was 
leading them, and displayed generally a very seditious spirit. 
As a punishment fiery serpents were sent among them, the bite 
of which was deadly. Numbers were dying all over the camp, 
and the people, repenting of their conduct, entreated Moses to 
plead with the Lord on their behalf. This he did, and with 
great success. And the Lord said unto Moses, " Make thee a 
fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole ; and it shall come to pass, 
that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall 



MOSES ON MOUNT SIANI, 149 

live." "And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it upon 
a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any 
mari, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." 

That this was directly typical of the Lord Jesus we learn 
from his own words to Nicodemus. " As Moses lifted up the 
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be 
lifted up ; that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, 
but have eternal life." In both cases the object was to save 
dying men. The bite of the serpent was sure death, unless a 
remedy had been provided ; and so sin is certain destruction 
to the soul, had not a Savior been provided. 

Whoever looked at the brazen serpent was cured. It might 
be an old, hoary-headed sinner, or it might be a youth of tender 
years and amiable impulses ; but both were to be saved in the 
«ame way. The man, at the very point of death, whose black- 
ened and bloated form told of his near approach to eternity ; 
and the man who had just been bitten, and could see no danger 
at all in his present state, were both to be saved by looking at 
the same object. So it is with the plan of salvation through 
a crucified Redeemer The vilest transgressor and the most 
moral and amiable sinner, must come in the same way ; trust- 
ing alone in Christ's merits. This has been a great stumbling 
block to many a proud soul. Here, for example, is a pirate 
just come from the slippery deck of his vessel, his hands red 
with the blood of murder. The vilest passions gleam from his 
, eyes, and his lips burn with the most horrid blasphemies. But 
the very first time he hears the gospel he is cut to the heart 
and begins to cry for mercy. His sins roll up before him in 
terrific array ; and as if they were mountains of lead, he feels 
that they are dragging him down to perdition. But suddenly 
he hears the Lord telling him, that His blood can cleanse from 
all sin ; and that whosoever cometh to him he will in no wise 
cast out. He believes it, takes God at his word, and is at once 
saved. A sense of peace and pardon takes possession of his 
soul. He knows that his sins are all forgiven him for Jesus' 
sake As an adopted child he can go with confidence into the 



150 THE world's hope. 

presence of the heavenly Father, and worship him without a 
cloud between. 

But here is an amiable, kind-hearted man, whose life glides 
smoothly on in acts of benevolence and good-will to his fellow- 
men. In all the relations of life, he is strictly moral and duti- 
ful. In short, in many respects he is regarded by his neighbors 
as a model man. Yet inwardly he has a sinful heart. He 
does not love God with all his soul. He has, in thought and 
feeling, broken God's law every hour of his life. The curse of 
that law is upon him. From that curse he can only be saved 
by the same means that saved the blood-stained murderer. He 
must come emptied of self, a poor hell-deserving sinner as the 
other came ; and be saved by the blood of Jesus alone. He 
must count all his morality and outward goodness as doing 
nothing for him in the way of obtaining eternal life. But will 
he do it ? Will not his pride rebel against this humbling and 
mortifying plan of mercy ? Alas ! many are constantly doing 
so; and publicans and harlots rush into the kingdom of 
heaven, while they shut themselves out by their self-righteous- 
ness. As the wounded Israelites were saved by simply look- 
ing at the brazen serpent lifted up, so all sinners are to be 
saved by a look of faith at the Lord Jesus. " Look unto me 
and be ye saved, all the ends of ye earth." 

In the case of the Israelites the remedy was perfect. When 
God's direction 'was complied with, there was not a single case 
of failure. Not one could stand up and say, I have tried the 
remedy ; it has done me no good ; I must die. So in the whole 
history of the world never man came to Jesus by faith, and was 
turned away unsaved. None can say, I have tried the blood 
of Jesus; it may have saved others, but it is not able to save 
me. Nay, in every case the remedy has been immediate 
in its saving power. It is a present salvation. If there is any 
delay it is on the part of the sinner ; for with God no7Cf is the 
acceptable time. The remedy is divinely certified never to 
fail. It is not like those human nostrums, certified to cure the 
sick and the dying, and that for a moment enkindle hope in 
the bosom of despair, only to cast them back into the bitter 



MOSES ON MOUNT SIANI. 15I 

anguish of hope deferred. No, the whole countless multitude 
of the redeemed in heaven and on earth unite in singing, 
** Worthy is the Lamb that was slain ; for he has washed us 
from our sins in his own blood." 

In the brazen serpent lifted up we see the necessity of faith 
in the work of salvation. Men looked at the serpent, believing 
what God said as to its curative power. Even the people liv- 
ing under that dark dispensation knew very well that that piece 
of brass was only a type, and that there was nothing in it to 
save them. They knew that the principle thing was faith in 
the true word of God regarding it. These Hebrews got the 
healing power by simply doing what God bid them. Suppose 
that a wounded man had applied some of his own remedies, 
having more faith in them than he had in God's, and yet to 
please his neighbors, or as a kind of experiment of his own, 
would go out and look at the brazen serpent, he would have 
received no good. His want of faith would have been dishonor 
done to God. 

Faith has a mighty power in the affairs of men. It binds 
families and nations together. Without it the wheels of com- 
merce could not revolve for a single da^^ Of the power of 
faith I lately met with the following illustration. Admiral Du- 
pont was telling Admiral Farragut the reason why he failed to 
enter Charleston harbor with his splendid fleet of ironclads. 
He gave first one reason, then another and another. Farragut 
stood silent till he got through, and then paid : "Ah, Dupont, 
there was one more reason." " What was that .?" " You didn't 
believe you could do it." Now if faith is so important in the 
affairs of men, is it any wonder that it should be so important 
when God speaks to his creatures. 

Suppose that a wounded Israelite had given as a reason why 
he should not look at the brazen serpent, that he was not yet 
sick enough, that he did not yet suffer enough, but that 
by and by when he felt in greater danger, he would do what 
was required. Would you not regard this as exceedingly absurd .'* 
And yet there are those who are waiting to feel themselves 
greater sinners, waiting to feel deeper convictions before they 



152 THE world's hope. 

come to Jesus. My reader, you know that you are a sinner 
and that you need a Savior ; well, that is enough. Come as 
you are. If you wait for anything you are not likely to come 
at all. Or if you do, it will be after wearing your life out ii> 
trying human plans, that only being increased guilt upon your 
soul. Let me urge you now to resolve, that turning away from 
every false way you will at once go to Him who is the way, the 
truth, and the life. 

When a wounded Israelite looked at the brazen serpent he 
would at once know that he was cured. He would not say, I 
hope I am, but I have often many doubts and fears. Thus the 
soul that comes to Christ has a divine certainty given — an un- 
clouded confidence imparted to him. And yet many of the 
people of God are almost afraid to take that comfort from the 
gospel which it is fitted and intended to give, lest they should 
be too bold and manifest a lack of that proper humility that 
becomes a sinner. 

Now if we ourselves had anything to do with obtaining this 
assurance, then we might well have doubts about it. But it is 
not so. The ground of our confidence is entirely independent 
of anything that we have done or can do. It depends alone 
upon the sufficiency of Christ's death and the veracity of God's 
word. My certainty of being accepted is made to turn upon 
this point, did Jesus die for sinners like me, and is God speak- 
ing the truth when he says I can be forgiven for the sake of 
what he has done .-* Assurance in this case is honoring the 
faithfulness of God, and doubt is casting discredit upon his 
veracity. If a friend comes and makes a statement to you, 
and you entertain doubts about it, you, in that case, dishonor his 
credibility. If he is a man of truth, and you have long known 
him as such, you have no right to have any doubts at all. So it is 
in regard to our assurance of salvation. The Apostle John 
says, " If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of 
God is greater." . Jesus always referred to the truth of what he 
said as the reason why he expected it to be believed. "If I 
say the truth, why do ye not believe me .''" 

Here it is where many believers make a great mistake. They 



MOSES ON MOUNT SIANI. 153 

look within themselves for a ground of assurance, and exam- 
ine their own feelings and experience, to find a rock of confi- 
dence on which to build. No wonder they fail. God's true 
saying concerning his Son is the true foundation on which to 
rest ; and the soul that does so shall never be confounded. 
Paul called his hearers to witness, that he came declaring unto 
them the testimony of God. Not his testimony, not his feel- 
ings, nor his experience, but the word of the God of truth. O 
surely if we can be certain of anything, it must be what rests 
upon such testimony ! 

An infidel had got a woman to believe his pernicious doc- 
trines. When she was dying he said to her, " Hold fast, Mary." 
" I can't hold fast, for you have given me nothing to hold by." 
He had taught her to doubt, but had given her nothing to be- 
lieve. How different with the Christian who rests upon the 
truth of God. He can look death and judgment in the face 
with an assurance that earth and hell cannot shake, for he 
knows that his Divine Master can not deny himself. The 
strong bulwark of salvation behind which the believer stands 
was built by Jehovah, and it is a burning shame for us to doubt 
our security while standing there. 

" My friend, God does not ask thy tears, 
Nor aught that thou canst give ; 
Thy prayers can never save thy soul, 
* Believe,' and thou shalt live. 

" The work was finish'd long ago, 

All merit set aside, 
When Jesus, in the sinner's stead, 

Upon Mount Calvary died. 

" He there became a substitute, 

The sinner's debt to pay — 
He brought in everlasting life 

For all who will obey. 

" And Jesus risen from the dead 

Is now the proof to thee, 
That all the debt was fully paid 

Upon the cursed tree. 



154 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

** There's nothing left for you to give, 
Nothing for yott to pay — 

If you but trust in Jesus' blood, 
You may be saved to-day. 

" Saved, if you simply place your trust 
In God's beloved Son, 

And only rest your faith upon 

The work which He has done. 

" Thus having Christ by living faith, 
You stand before the throne, 

In all His perfect spotlessness — 
His righteousness alone, 

" Then cease from all thy useless toil, 

Thou art not asked to give — 
God tells thee Christ has paid the debt. 
''Believe, and thou shalt live,^ " 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 155 



CHAPTER XL 

MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 

We come now to contemplate Moses in the closing days of 
his life. Properly speaking, a good man never dies. His char- 
acter is brightened by the years that roll on, lives through all 
time and, like a fixed star, shines with undiminished luster. 
"The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance." 
Such men live not for themselves, but for others. Their lives 
are a complete consecration to the good of humanity. Not in 
dreamy, selfish ease did they spend their days on earth, but 
filled with the love of God, these heroic souls labored and 
suffered and died, to add to the sum total of human happiness. 

Such characters triumph over death, and while passing away 
from earth leave to mankind the noblest legacy — that of a holy 
example. It is not wealth, nor distinguished birth, nor brill- 
iant genius, but goodness that imparts to a man true immor- 
tality. Men say that such a man is dead, but his usefulness 
lives right on. He may be laid in the silent grave, but his holy 
acts of self-denying zeal defy the power of death and the- 
grave to cast over them the pall of oblivion. 

How strikingly is all this seen in the case of Moses. Here 
is true principle and Godlike character embodied and person- 
ified. We now see him closing up his earthly career. Through 
countless perils and trials he had led the chosen people to the 
very borders of the promised land. We see the tents of the 
Israelites stretching away over hill and plain, and looking pic- 
turesque and beautiful in the rays of the morning sun. The 
face of nature is calm and beautiful. All around is sweet re- 
pose — a holy quiet. On the morning of that day so memorable, 
when the prophet is to take farewell of the people that he had 
loved so well, and for whom he had suffered so much ; we see 

4 



156 THE world's hope. 

the people gathering together from every quarter, till they 
stand there a mighty host. Then comes the farewell address 
of tiieir great leader, and his parting benediction. That was 
a solemn moment when the man of God cast his eye over that 
vast sea of faces for the last time. He remembered the past 
with prophetic power, looked into the future, and the tenderest 
emotions rushed like a mighty river through his soul. They 
are met for the last time on earth, and he speaks to them in 
terms the most fit and memorable. It is, ineded, a wonderful 
address. For pious fervor, for bold imagery, for melting ten- 
derness, for faithfulness of rebuke, and for the impetuous rush 
of sweeping and majestic eloquence, it casts into the shade the 
greatest orators of Greece and Rome. It was heaven-inspired. 
He was but the trumpet through which the voice of the Lord 
sounded ; and with what thrilling pathos do those words fall 
upon our ears, " O that they were wise, that they understood 
this, that they would consider their latter end !" 

But his work is done, and well done. His death-warrant is 
signed, and the decision from which there is no appeal has 
gone forth. We see him turn away from the weeping multi- 
tude, and with eye undimmed and vital energy still strong 
within him, begin to ascend the mount where he was to die. He 
did not look like a dying man, for his physical system bore no 
signs of decay. His Lord, however, wanted him for higher 
service, and to fill and satisfy his soul with unspeakable de- 
lights. What a lovely sight, to see that hale old man, with such 
a sweetly composed look upon his face, climbing up to his 
grave. Never king went with greater alacrity to his throne 
than did this venerable saint of God to meet with death. At 
last he stands upon Pisgah's summit looking on the magnificent 
scene that opens before him. Every object is bathed in light 
and beauty, and his soul is filled with delight as he looks at last 
upon the fair land of promise. 

Away yonder, in the distance, flows the Jordan, hastening 
to empty itself into the Dead Sea; its waters flashing and 
sparkling in rays of the sun. We can imagine him stand- 
ing on some gray rock, and looking with intense eagerness upon. 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 157 

a land that for forty years had been so much in his thoughts. 
Away on his right he sees the snow peaks of Mount Lebanon, 
gleaming like a huge mass of crystal in heaven's light. There, 
too, is the hill of Zion, where in coming years the beautiful 
temple will be built, and multitudes of his descendants go up 
to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. When he turns 
and looks to the left, some spots that are to be the most mem- 
orable on earth meet his views. There he sees Bethlehem, 
where the world's Savior is to be born ; and there is Mount 
Calvary, where he is to die in untold agony, the just for the 
unjust. It is not too much to suppose that his Lord told him 
of those places, and of what was to occur upon them ; and if 
so, with what emotions must his soul have been filled ! 

But suddenly a new light breaks upon him. He begins to 
see the spiritual instead of the material, eternal things in- 
stead of temporal. A new light breaks upon his astonished 
view ; a light more brilliant than anything he had ever 
conceived of before ; and in comparison with which the sun 
in his brightness would look like a dark spot. It is the 
light of glory, the brightness of his future hope. He has 
reached the pearly gate of the city of God. Angels open and 
bid him welcome. Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and many 
others of whom he wrote, press forward to hail his entrance 
with delight. Peals of ravishing music, and bursts of triumph- 
ant praise, break upon his ear. O, thrice happy soul ! Thy 
sorrows are ended, thy immortal joys are begun, never, never 
to end ! 

But look at the top of Pisgah ! What is that which lies upon 
the old gray rock ? It is the corpse of Moses. The immortal 
spirit is in heaven, and that is only the tabernacle of clay. We 
know not how long he was dying, nor what were the last 
earthly words he spoke to his Lord. No human friends were 
with him in his last moments ; but he needed them not. for 
"beneath him were the everlasting arms." He had the most 
magnificent funeral ever given to mortal man. God, himself, 
buried him, and there his flesh rests in hope as the ages roll 
iiway, his grave unknown to mortals. 



158 I'HE world's hope. 

The God that he served and loved so well took care of his 
dust, and the secret of his resting-place is shut up in the Di- 
vine mind till the morning of the resurrection. Many a trav- 
eler may pass over the sacred spot without knowing it. There 
the dust of the man of God reposes undisturbed, " with the 
thunder of the passing storm as his only dirge." For this con- 
cealment Jehovah had, no doubt, good reasons. We have seen 
how prone these Hebrews were to idolatry; and had they 
known the place of his sepulcher they might have profaned it 
in such a way. In this way the Lord put his condemnation 
upon all superstition. We know even in this dispensation of 
superior light and knowledge, what a traffic has been kept up in 
the bones of persons called saints, and what pretended miracles 
have been wrought by them. Very likely the bones of Moses 
would have been preserved and carried about with them. To 
help them in time of battle, to bring them rain in time of 
drouth, to drive away pestilence and disease, and to work all 
kinds of charms, these bones might have been resorted to. But 
by keeping the place of his burial secret the Lord rendered 
this forever impossible. 

We know that the Israelites were liable to fall into such su- 
perstitious practices from the way that they treated the brazen 
serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness. This serpent, 
it seems, was preserved, and in the days of Hezekiah tliey had 
begun to worship it. This filled that good man with a holy 
indignation, so that he brake it in pieces that this temptation 
to idolatry might be forever out of their way. 

Christ is said to have abolished death ; that is, he has dis- 
armed it of its stings, and its power to hurt the believer. A 
new life reigns in the renewed soul and takes possession of it 
forever. The earthly tabernacle is subject to death because it 
has in it the seeds of decay ; but when Jesus rose from the 
grave, death was swallowed up in victory. Just as sure as he 
lives, we shall live also, in the whole of our nature. It was 
not one part of our nature that he undertook to deliver from 
the effq^rts of sin ; but the perfected work shall show body and 
soul renewed and reigning in life through Jesus (Christ. 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 159 

With such a sublime confidence in the soul, no wonder that 
the Christian's death is one of triumph. He has grasped the 
grand central truth of Christianity ; and bigger, and better, and 
brighter than all earthly joys put together is the gladness that 
fills his whole being. God has always kept the hope of a res- 
urrection, less or more distinctly, before the world. Hence, 
before the flood, Enoch was translated bodily from this world 
to be with God ; showing that our bodies were capable of such 
changes as to fit them to live in heaven. Then after the flood, 
Elijah's translation testified to the same thing. Then our 
adorable Redeemer rose from the dead ; and thus became the 
first fruits of them that slept. As the great type of our human- 
ity, He showed that the resurrection was not merely a thing 
possible or probable, but a positive, accomplished fact. The 
vast, wide dominions of death heard the glad tidings that came 
from the open tomb of Jesus.; and though we may go to the 
graves' of our friends to weep there, it is not with the sorrow of 
the infidel or of the heathen, who have no hope. The Savior 
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice 
of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first. Here is the hope of Christ's people — 
the hope of the new creation. There our perfected humanity, 
made like unto Christ's, shall start upon a glorious career of 
immortal bliss. 

It is called eternal life. It will be eternal life to both body 
and soul. All the promises of future good from the beginning 
of the creation, are, as it were, condensed into these words, 
eternal life. All that the soul can enjoy, with all its vast capacity 
of progression, and drawing forever from the unlimited fullness 
of God, is implied in the words, eternal life. When millions of 
ages shall have passed away, it will still be, eternal life. Could 
we add together the age of our world to that of all the stars, 
and then add the age of every redeemed soul to the age of 
every angel in heaven, we would have a period so vast as to 
confound the mind ; but still it would be as nothing, compared 
with eternal life. When all these years would have passed away, 
the blood-bought throng would still be singing : " The gift of 



l6o THE world's hope. 

God is eternal life!" We know that we must live forever in 
some condition. Everywhere, the vast world over, men feel 
that they have an immortal part within them. Savage and sage 
alike believe that they must live forever. But it is to be 
remembered that there is such a thing as banishment from God ; 
which in the Bible is called eternal death. It is only the soul 
that has been taken to the bosom of Divine Love, and that has 
heard the whisper of the still, small voice, saying, " I give unto 
them eternal life, and they shall never perish." Who can feel 
the blessedness of a heaven begun on earth. 

" The men of grace have found 
Glory begun below ; 
Celestial faith, on earthly ground, 
By faith and hope may grow." 

It is the privilege of all believers to have Pisgah views of 
heaven. I have been an earnest observer at the death-beds of 
many Christians, and I know that God gives special grace and 
support for that trying hour. Clearer light illuminates their 
minds. Wider and deeper conceptions of the fullness of 
Christ, fill their hearts to overflowing. Consolation, which in 
its sweetness tells of its divine origin, is imparted to sustain the 
soul, as it stands all ready for its mysterious flight. How firm 
the foot is placed upon the Rock of Ages ! How strong the 
courage, how noble the bearing of the believer in that hour ! 
What a sweet calm — a holy stillness — we have seen come over 
him, like the calm of the going down of the summer sun, with 
a golden glory all around. In such circumstances we have seen 
the looks and the words- of Christians bear an aspect almost 
unearthly. They will often tell you that they hear angelic 
music. " Listen ! Do you not hear it ? O, how sweet ! how 
ra])turous!" Often they will seem astonished when told that 
you did not hear anything. Sometimes they speak as if seeing 
angel convoys. " See, see ! there are the shining ones ! They 
have come for me ! O, let me go !" And they reach out their 
cold arms, stiff'ening in death. Now I have no doubt that they 
are often permitted to ste something of heaven, before going 
out of the body ; and that the soul gets so spiritual as to see 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. l6r 

around it its future companions. We know that it was so with 
Stephen before he died, even when the stones were faUing 
around him and the curses of his enemies were in his dying 
ears. Thus God's holy ones are comforted. The loving hand 
of their Savior pulls back the veil, and lets them get a glimpse 
of their fair inheritance. Let worldly men call this fanaticism 
and mere rhapsody if they please ; I call it Pisgah views, given 
for loving purposes. Child of God, be comforted ! A few 
more struggles, and you shall be in the calm glory of your Fa- 
ther's house. A few more trials, and you shall be with the 
unnumbered multitude of the glorified. Your crown is waiting 
for you ; your white robe all fit to put on. 

What blessed and joyous welcome will be given to the re- 
deemed, when they land upon the shore of glory. Pastor, there 
are spiritual children which God has given you, waiting to give 
you a joyous reception. Mother, there are your loved children, 
ready to join you in eternal songs of gratitude. Believers, 
there are your brethren with whom you took sweet counsel on 
earth. What happy prayer-meetings you used to have. How 
pleasantly you labored together to promote the Savior's cause. 
They have got to heaven before you ; but they wait and watch 
for your coming. They hail you, as it were, from the heavenly 
shore. 

"E'en now by faith we join our hands 
With those who went before, 
Those great and blood-besprinkled bands 
Upon th' eternal shore." 

There are some people, even here, that it seems like a little 
heaven to enjoy their society. To spend an evening with them 
refreshes and strengthens us by the way, for months afterwards. 
Think, then, of the society beyond the Jordan. Think of hav- 
ing a long conversation with Enoch, and Moses, and Abraham »* 
and of hearing David striking his heavenly harp to thrilling notes 
of harmony. Think of hearing Milton, no longer blind, rolling 
out his deathless numbers. Think of hearing and seeing the 
great Reformers, Luther, and Calvin, and Zwingle, and many 
others of whom the world was not worthy. If that man is 



l62 THE world's HOPE. 

peculiarly happy who enjoys these Pisgah views of which we 
have spoken, how unspeakably happy must he be who is in full 
possession of the promised land. 

Moses enjoyed some privileges that were peculiar to himself; 
because of the important position he was called to occupy. But 
a peaceful, happy death was not one of these. That is the priv- 
ilege of all God's children. " Mark the perfect man, and 
behold the upright ; for the end of that man is peace." Society 
may be convulsed to its center ; earthly comforts may crumble 
to ashes in the grasp ; the bright lights in our homes may go 
out one by one in darkness ; but peace to live by and to die by, 
is the assured inheritance of the Christian. With Christ for 
his treasure, with heaven for his home, v/ith precious promises 
to pillow his head upon, he can make the dark valley ring with 
the cry, " I will fear no evil for thou art with me." 

When I have spoken about these Pisgah glimpses, I do not 
mean that any new thing is made known to the soul, that can- 
not be found in the Bible ; no new revelation is given. There 
are times, however, in the experience of all good people, when 
portions of the Bible are so illuminated by the Holy Spirit, tha 
they come with almost the force and the power of a new. reve- 
lation. Like the blind man whom our Lord cured, who at first 
saw things dimly, men like trees walking ; so truths, of which 
we had but a dim and shadowy view, are made to stand out in 
all their lovely proportions. So is it with these Pisgah views. 
We have a deeper, clearer insight into the deep things of God. 
There is given to us the spiritual mind, and hence a fuller real- 
ization of invisible things of eternity. The things that are seen 
and temporal, and that used to absorb us so much, have lost 
their power ; and the soul is now engrossed with the things of 
the world to come. 

As the christian nears the eternal world, who can tell how 
far his thoughts may be carried into the light of a higher reve- 
lation of God. I have often seen christians so filled with the 
love of God, and longing so intensely for his presence, that 
there seemed a holy impatience for the gate to open and let 
them go to their Father. I have visited such as their minister^ 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 163 

but not as their instructor. I felt that the secret of the Lord 
was with them, and that they were able to instruct me. I might 
know a great deal more about theology than they did ; but for 
real heartfelt communion with God, for those joys in religion 
that words are too poor to describee, for that glory bursting upon 
their view, of which only angel language could tell, I felt that 
my proper place was to sit at their feet and learn as a little 
child. I have watched the lamp of life flickering till it ex- 
pired ; I have seen the dark shadow of death pass over the face, 
brightened by flashes of glory, and I have cried out, " Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my latter end be like 
his." 

To the truly spiritual man these views of his heavenly home 
are given all his journey through. Moses lived in daily fellow- 
ship with his God, and was thus changed from glory to glory. 
The truly spiritually-minded man is a blessing to all who come 
in contact with him. If you go to his house, he will tell you of 
a house not made with hands. If you sit at his hospitable 
table, he will feed you with the bread of life. If you do busi^ 
ness with him, he will seek to induce you to buy the pearl of great 
price. If you. injure him, he can forgive you as he himself has 
been forgiven. If you curse him, he will bless you. He has gone 
into the heavenly country, and brought us a bunch of the heav- 
enly fruit, to increase our desire for more. Such a man is 
the highest type of our humanity. Even in old age he brings 
forth fruit abundantly for God. In the fall of the year you 
may have seen the withered leaves shining like gold, because 
the rays of the sun were reflected from them ; so the aged saint 
reflects back upon the world the beams of the sun of Righteous- 
ness. How great is the influence of such a life. As a single 
atom of matter cannot be put in motion without aff"ecting the 
innumerable other atoms that compose the globe, so is it with 
human character. We move all around us for good or for evil 
every day that we live. How important, then, that we should 
be able to say, " For me to live is Christ." 

We conclude the history of Moses with the following beaU' 
tiful lines : 



r64 THE world's hope. 

By Nebo's lonely mountain, 
On this side Jordan's wave, 

In a vale in the land of Moab, 
There lies a lonely grave. 

" And no man dug the sepulcher, 
And no man gave it air. 
For the angels of God upturned the sod.. 
And laid the dead man there. 

" That was the grandest funeral 
That ever passed on earth, 
But no man heard the tramping. 
Or saw the train go forth. 

** For, without sound of music, 
Or voice of them that wept, 
Silently down from the mountain's crown 
The great procession swept. 

** Perchance, the bald old eagle, 
On gray Bethpeor's height, 
Out of his rocky eyrie 

Looked on the wondrous sight. 

''Perchance, the lion, stalking, 
Still shuns that hallowed spot, 
For beast and bird have seen and heard 
That which man knoweth not. 

** But when the warrior dieth, 
His comrades in the war, 
"With arms reversed, and muffled drum, 
Follow the funeral car. 

** They show the banners taken, ■ 
They tell his battles won ; 
And after him lead his masterless steed, 
While peals the minute gun. 

** Ahiid the noblest of the land, 
Men lay the sage to rest. 
And give the bard an honored place, 
With costly marble drest, 



MOSES ON MOUNT PISGAH. 165 

"In the great Minster transept, 
Where lights like glories fall, 
And the choir sings, and the organ rings, 
Along the emblazoned wall. 

"This was the bravest warrior, 

That ever buckled sword, 
This the most gifted poet 
That ever breathed a word. 

"And never earth's philosopher 
Traced with his golden pen. 
On the deathless page, truths half so sage 
As he wrote down for men. 

"And had he not high honors? 
The hillside for his pall. 
To lie in state while angels wait, 
With stars for tapers tall? 

*'And the dark rock pines with tossing plumes. 

Over the bier to wave, 
And God's own hand in that mountain land 
To lay him in the grave. 

"In that deep grave without a name. 
Whence his uncoffinned clay. 
Shall break again — most wondrous thought — 
Before the judgment day. 

**And stand with glory wrapped around 

On the hills he never trod. 
And speak of the strife that won our life 
With the incarnate Son of God. 

"Oh, lonely tomb in Moab's landl 

Oh, dark Bethpeor's hill? 
Speak to those anxious hearts of ours. 
And teach them to be still. 

"God hath his mysteries of grace, 

Ways that we cannot tell; 
He hides them deep, like the secret sleep 
Of him he loved so well." 



i66 THE world's hope. 



CHAPTER XII. 
JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 

Whether it is right for a religious man to engage in war has 
long been a mooted question among good people. Without 
going into this discussion we may mention, that war with all 
its attendant horrors has been permitted by God ; and very 
often overruled by him for the accomplishment of the greatest 
good. The opening China, containing one-third of the world „ 
population, to the preaching of the gospel was brought about 
through the means of war. The overthrow of American 
slavery, with all its accompanying abominations, was effected 
by the same means. These are recent examples, but the his- 
tory of the world is full of such cases. 

It is also worthy of our notice, that some of the best of men 
have been engaged in the profession of arms The armies of 
Cromwell and of the Scottish Covenanters, afford examples of 
the deepest piety, and show that religion, so far from unfitting 
for the duties of a soldier, impart to him the highest courage. 
Col. Gardiner lived very near God, rising early when the army 
was on the move, in order to have time for prayer and reading 
the Scripture. Capt. Headly Vicars, in that desperate strug- 
gle before Sevastopol, was acknowledged by his superiors to be 
one of the most efficient young officers in the army, and yet 
his piety was of the highest type, and his zeal for the salvation 
of souls unwavering. 

Gen. Havelock was one of the bravest and most successful 
of soldiers in modern times ; and yet one of the most consist- 
ent of Christians. I>ord Harding said of him, " Havelock is 
every inch a soldier ;" and he was every inch a Christian. Once, 
when some military emergency had arisen, the general in com- 
mand had ordered out a particular corps, but was told that 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 167 

they were not fit to take the post of danger, because they were 
intoxicated. Now, mark what the general next said • — " Call out 
Havelock's saints: he is always ready, and his men are never 
drunk." When dying he said to his son, "Come, my son, and 
see how a Christian man can die." To Sir James Outram, who 
visited him on his death- bed, he said, " For more than forty 
years I have so ruled my life that when death came I might 
face it without fear." 

In the late conflict in America, what noble specimens of the 
Christian soldier were presented before the world. Both among 
the officers and in the ranks were men who walked with God, 
and were equally efficient as soldiers of the Republic and as 
soldiers of the Cross. Their religious convictions led them 
to leave their comfortable homes, and bid farewell to loving 
friends, to encounter hardships and perils, the very recital of 
which makes our souls shudder. And never for a moment 
did they look back and regret their choice. Who can look 
upon such true specimens of Christian manhood as Gen. 
Mitchell and Gen. Rice, without feeling that the true martyr 
spirit still lives in the church of God. The latter, just before 
entering the battle in which he was killed, wrote to his mother 
as follows : " My entire hope is in the cross of my Savior. In 
this hope I am always happy. I trust that God may again 
graciously spare my life, as He has in the past ; and yet one 
cannot fall too early if, loving Christ, he dies for his country." 
.Thus, from those high in rank down to the humblest drummer- 
boy, there were many bright trophies of the power of Christ's 
gospel to save. 

We have been led into these remarks because we are now 
to consider the character of Joshua, a brave and successful 
warrior, and as pious as he was brave. By the choice of 
Moses and the approval of Jehovah, he was put at the head 
of the Israelitish people and had a responsibility of vast mag- 
nitude laid upon him. When God has a work to do he is never 
at a loss for an instrument to accomplish it. There is no man, 
however great, who is absolutely necessary to the carrying on 
of God's work. There never was a man in the world so ne- 



i68 THE world's hope. 

cessary that the world could not do without him. Moses would 
seem to be essential to the very existence of the Jewish nation, 
but even he can be spared. He is dead, but the designs of 
the Almighty go on as if he had never lived. This thought 
may be very humbling and mortifying to the self-importance 
of some people. The popular minister may think himself 
necessary to the prosperity, if not to the existence, of the 
church over which he presides. Some of his injudicious 
friends have told him so again and again ; and in so doing 
spoke the honest feelings of their hearts. But he is removed, 
and the work goes on as if nothing had happened. For some 
time the face that used to look down upon them from the pulpit i^ 
kindly remembered and honest regrets are expressed that the 
voice they loved to hear so well will be heard by them no more ; 
but soon all this will cease, and things will move on as if he 
had never been. And all this is right enough. Death is not 
to be permitted to strike with paralysis the whole frame-work of 
society. When one falls in the ranks of the Lord's army, the 
Captain of our salvation has another just as good to take his 
place. The great fight of faith must not stop, for God can 
raise up, out of the very stones, children to Abraham. 

Joshua displayed the boldness and conscientiousness of his 
character during the life of Moses. On reaching the borders 
of the land of Canaan, twelve persons were selected from the 
different tribes, whose duty it was to explore the country and 
bring back correct information as to its inhabitants, its natural 
productions and the strength of its fortifications. Dividing 
themselves into companies, they went forth, passing quietly 
through the land and obtaining what information they could. 
Ten of these spies' came back with a most doleful report. 
Taking counsel of their own fears, they represented, with the 
wildest exaggeration, the people as very numerous, their cities 
as strongly fortified, and the utter impossibility of ever con- 
quering such a people. They acknowledged, indeed, that the 
land was all it had been represented for fertility, and even 
brought specimens of its fruitfulness. But, upon the whole, 
their report was so discouraging as to create a panic of fear, so 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 169 

that the voice of weeping was heard all over the camp. Now, 
Joshua and Caleb had been among the number of spies, and 
presented quite a different report. They denounced the 
report of the others as incorrect, and as the result of coward- 
ice. They said, " The land which we passed through to search 
it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then 
he will bring us into this land and give it us ; a land which 
floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the 
Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread 
to us ; their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is 
with us ; fear them not." This showed that Joshua was a man 
of the right spirit for the enterprise for which he was now 
called. It is true, a formidable work lay before him ; but he 
had a most sustainmg promise from the mouth of Jehovah 
himself: " There shall not any man be able to stand before 
thee all the days of thy life ; as I was with Moses, so I will be 
with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." 

Along with the assurance of the Divine presence came a 
solemn injunction to make the law of God his constant study ; 
yea, to meditate upon it by day and by night. He had a great 
work before him, and the requisite wisdom for its accomplish- 
ment could only be obtained from the statutes of the Lord. 
That great man. Judge Hale, used to spend a portion of each 
morning in the study of the Scriptures, however much engaged 
he might be. He tells us that if this was omitted nothing 
seemed to go right with him all day. That distinguished 
writer. Sir William Jones, wrote on the blank leaf of his Bible 
the following beautiful sentiment : " I have regularly and 
attentively perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion 
that this volume, independently of its Divine origin, contains 
more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, 
more important history, and finer strains of poetry and elo- 
quence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever 
age or language they may have been written." Count Oxen- 
stein, Chancellor of Sweden, said to one who visited him, " All 
the comfort I have, and all the comfort I take, and which is 
more than the whole world can give, is the knowledge of God's 



lyo THE world's hope. 

love in my heart, and the reading of this blessed Book,'' laying 
his hand on the Bible. "You are now," he continued, *' in the 
prime of your age and vigor, and in great favor and business; 
but this will all leave you, and you will one day better under- 
stand and relish what I say to you. Then you will find that 
there is more wisdom, truth, comfort, and pleasure, in retiring 
and turning your heart from the world, in the good spirit of 
God, and in reading his sacred word, than in all the courts and 
favors of princes." The celebrated John Locke, we are told, 
spent the last fourteen years of his life in the study of the 
Bible; and speaking of it to a young friend, he said, "It has 
God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any 
mixture of error, for its matter." 

Joshua now began to make all needed preparation for cross- 
ing the Jordan, and taking possession of the promised land. 
He has the Divine promise to sustain him ; but he does not 
make that an excuse for omitting the use of all proper means 
of accomplishing his object. He proceeds as if all depended 
upon himself; and yet relied upon God, as if he could do 
nothing. This is the true spirit, which all workers in Christ's 
vineyard should cultivate. Let them work as hard as if all suc- 
cess depended upon their doing so; and yet, by prayer and 
faith in God, show that in him is their dependence. 

Joshua sent out two confidential persons to visit Jericho, to 
find out something as to its population, its resources, and the 
strength of its fortification. It was the frontier city of Canaan, 
and was inhabited by a, very wicked and degraded people. 
There was, however, one person in that city whose heart was 
moved by the fear of the Lord. This was a woman of tarnished 
reputation, but who had ceased from her wicked ways, and re- 
ceived the spies into her house with peace. She protected 
them from the police by hiding them in a secure place, and 
saved their lives by assisting their escape. She showed her 
faith in God by saying, " I know that the Lord hath given you 
the land." She begged them to promise her that when the 
city was taken, her life and the life of her kindred would be 
preserved. The promise was given, and the sign of protection 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 17I 

for her and her kindred was to be the scarlet line by which she 
let them down over the wall of the city, being hung up in the 
window. Now that this woman, once an abandoned character, 
became a really good woman, is evident from the Apostle Paul 
placing her in the ranks of the worthies that he mentions in his 
epistle to the Hebrews : " By faith the harlot Rahab perished 
not with them that believed not, when she had received the 
spies with peace." 

Thus we see that God is indeed no respecter of persons ; but 
that individuals of every condition, of every phase of human 
life, are received by him through repentance and faith. There 
is not a depth of degradation, not a sink of human pollution, 
from which God cannot lift the sinful soul, and make it a bright 
gem in his crown forever. 

" God scatters truths on every side, 
Freely among his children all ; 
And always hearts are lying open wide. 
Wherein some grains may fall. 

" Tlicre is no wind but soweth seed 
Of a more true and open life, 
Which burst, unlooked-for, into high-souled -deed, 
With way-side beauty rife." 

In regard to this woman's faith, notice how implicit her con- 
fidence in the promise of the spies. She does not seem to 
doubt them for a moment. Sin is always suspicious, and sin- 
ners are always distrustful of each other. She had faith in the 
word of the good men that God sent to her dwelling ; and, as 
the Apostle James says, " Her faith brought forth works." She 
entertains them at the risk of her own life, hides them from their 
persecutors, refuses to betray them, and acknowledges the 
power of the God of Israel. And how much her faith was hon- 
ored. Honorable mention is made of her by two inspired 
apostles. From a child of wrath she is lifted up to be a child 
of God ; and from being a citizen of a vile heathen city, she is 
taken to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. 

When the hour of trial came, this woman's faith did not dis- 
appoint her. She v.as not confounded. The city is surrounded 



172 THE world's hope. 

by the invincible hosts of Israel, but she has no fear. The day 
of doom has at last come for that accursed city. She and her 
kindred are sitting quietly at her home, when the shrill send 
penetrating sound of the trumpets of Israel is heard coming 
nearer and nearer. The avenging army is about to descend 
upon that city already given over to destruction. Does Rahab 
turn pale and tremble ? No, she looks to the scarlet line in 
the window, and feels secure. A terrible shout is heard, as if 
smiting against the very heavens. Hark ! there is a fearful 
crash ! The wall of the city has fallen, and as a roaring flood 
comes rushing on, when the embankment, which for a time 
restrained it, has broken down, so the triumphant and con- 
quering hosts rush into the city. Does this woman join in the 
wild scream of despair that is going up from so many voices ? 
No, she has only to look at the scarlet line in the window. The 
army are now rushing through the streets, each with a sword in 
his hand, dripping with the blood of the slain. The work of 
destruction goes on apace. Torrents of blood run down the 
streets like water. The death-cry is heard every moment break- 
ing upon the air. But this believing woman looks to the scarlet 
line in the window, and feels calm as if in the heart of a forest. 
Many a man of war, with bloody weapon in hand, comes to that 
house, but he looks up and sees the scarlet line in the window, 
and passes on. But hark ! there come footsteps approaoliing 
the house — they enter the door — they are coming up the stairs. 
Has the scarlet line failed to do its work ? Has Rahab's faith, 
after all, been in vain.^ Has she fallen at last into the hand of 
the destroyer ? No, no ; it is only messengers come from Joshua 
—the very men whose lives she had saved, to bring her and 
all her kindred out of the city, before it is committed to the 
devouring flames. The scarlet line /las done its work. She 
and those dear to her are safe out of that doomed place. 
Turning to look behind her, she sees great billows of fire rolling 
over Jericho and great tongues of flame leaping up as if to the 
very heavens. Her faith has triumphed and placed her beyond 
the reach of harm. 

May not this scarlet line, under which this household found 



JOSHUA, -^HE PIOUS SOLDIER. 1 73 

protection, be taken as a type of the blood of Jesus ? The 
safety of that house did not depend upon strong preparations 
made to keep out the men of war. It was not by putting 
strong bolts upon their doors, or fortifications round their 
dwelling, that their safety was secured ; it was by simply placing 
the scarlet line in the window. So our salvation is not secur- 
ed by any act of our own, by any preparation that we may 
make to save us from the wrath to come ; we are saved, if saved 
at all, by faith in the blood of Jesus. 

The peace of that household, amid the destruction all 
around them, did not depend upon their own feelings or do- 
ings. They did not need to sit up all night keeping watch ; 
nor was it necessary to be constantly looking within to exam- 
ine the state of their own feelings. Their safety depended 
upon one thing, the scarlet line in the window. Suppose that 
they had taken it from the window and hung it on the door; 
or, supposing they had held it in their hands for greater secu- 
rity ; they would doubtless have perished. So we can only be 
saved by acting strictly in accordance with God's way, that is, 
faith in the blood of the Lord Jesus. Faith in that blood will 
give peace and assurance forever. Amid the swellings of Jor- 
dan, and the terrific scene of judgment, we will fear no evil ; 
for who can lay anything to the charge of those whom God 
justifies for the sake of his Son. 

But we must hasten on with the history of Joshua. The Jor- 
dan is past, its waters miraculously opening to let them pass 
through with the ark of the Tord. While Joshua was exam- 
ining the fortifications of Jericho a wonderful personage ap- 
peared before him, with a drawn sword in his hand. He 
boldly went up to this person and demanded whether he was 
for them or for their enemies. The answer was, " Nay, but as 
the Captain of the Lord's host am I come." Joshua at once 
understood who this was ; and instantly bowed down and wor- 
shiped him. For this act he received no rebuke, which he 
would have received had it been any mere creature that he 
worshiped. No doubt this was the angel of the covenant, 
who had on so many occasions appeared to his fathers ; who 



174 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

had so often conversed with Moses, and had now come to put 
them in possession of the promised land. It was doubtless the 
J.ord Jesus in whose presence he stood, and who, instead of 
rebuking him for his worship, requested him, as he did Moses 
at Horeb, to take his shoe^s off his feet because he stood upon 
holy ground. 

The faith of Joshua was seen in following implicitly the di- 
rections of God in regard to the way of taking Jericho. He 
did not ask, as unbelief would have done, what connection ■ 
then could be between the blowing of Rams' horns and the 
tumbling down of stone walls. He promptly did what he was 
bid, without setting up his own petty reasons or following the 
plans of other people, and the result was most triumphant. 
The city was taken, and its very existence blotted out of the 
record of the cities of the earth. Where can we find a more 
lovely spectacle than that of a man whose own will is swallow- 
ed up in the will of the all-wise Creator. His peace flows like 
a river, because whatever God does is pleasing to him. With 
such a man, the good, and perfect, and holy will of God is his 
delight day and night. To do that will is his meat and his 
drink; and with all hoTiesty of heart he can say, " Not my will, 
but thine be done." 

At this time a circumstance occurred that showed the strict 
principles of justice upon which Joshua acted, and the disas- 
trous effect which the conduct of one man may have upon 
the cause of truth. During the siege of Jericho a strict com- 
mand was given to the people not to take any part of the spoils 
of that city, which was to be regarded as accursed and doomed 
to destruction. Regardless of this command, Achan, a person 
of rank and influence, stole and concealed a quantity of the 
spoils. This act was unknown to any one but himself, and he 
soothed his conscience with the hope that he would escape de- 
tection. Shortly after this, Joshua sent out three thousand of 
his men of war to fight Ai ; but God was not with them, as 
formerly, to give victory to their arms. They met with a ter- 
rible repulse, and fled in terror before their enemy. This had 
a most depressing effect upon the people, and filled the heart 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 175 

of their general with the deepest anguish. We are told that 
he " rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before 
the ark of the Lord until the evening tide, he and the elders 
of Israel, and put dust upon their heads." He presented the 
matter before the Lord in earnest prayer. The reply was, 
"There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel;" 
and he was directed to find out the guilty man and bring him 
to punishment. 

Meantime Achan was rejoicing in his ill-gotten gain. It is 
true, he could not wear the beautiful stolen garments, but he 
could take them out and look at them in the privacy of his 
own tent ; and he could feast his greedy eyes upon the silver 
and the gold. But~ his false security is soon broken in upon. 
God's word to the sinner is, " Be sure your sins will find you 
out." This is acknowledged, on all hands, to be an uncertain 
world ; but here is one thing that we may be certain of, that 
sin will find out the sinner and expose him before men and 
angels. Achan hears that an investigation is about to be made. 
This makes him very uneasy ; but still he puts a brave face 
upon the matter, perhaps is very loud in denouncing the crime, 
and in asserting his innocence. The people are all assembled 
before the Lord ; but in such a large crowd he feels compara- 
tively secure. The criminal is to be detected by the casting of 
lots. The first lot is cast, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 
His heart throbs strongly now, for that is the tribe to which he 
belongs. The lot is again cast, and the family of the Zerhiter 
is taken. Ah ! his face is now pale with fright, and his knees 
smite against each other ; for he belonged to that f^imily. He 
feels that vengeance, like a blood-hound true to the scent, 
is upon his track. The lot is again cast, and falls upon him- 
self. Miserable man ! There he stands pointed out by the 
finger of God as the guilty man, and as the cause of all the 
trouble that had befallen his brethren. 

Had this man been asked, when he put forth his hand to do 
this wickedness, if he wished to bring defeat and death into 
the camp of Israel, he would have spurned the thought. 
But he went on to gratify his own covetousness and thus 



176 THE world's hope. 

turned the sword of the enemy against his friends. It is 
thus with inconsistent members of the church of Christ. Ask 
them if they intend to bring rain upon the church, to grieve 
their brethren and almost break the heart of their pastor, and 
they would repel with indignation such a charge. And yet 
they are really doing it. 

The progress of sin is seen in the case of Adhan. There 
was, in the first place, an undue familiarity with things forbid- 
den. He looked at these spoils, turning them over and over 
till he began to covet them. The eye is a great inlet to the 
soul, and the only true safety is to act as David did, " turn 
away the eyes from beholding vanity." The next step 
in his sin was, that he coveted these things, and thus the evil 
had already become intrenched in his heart. Many think that 
if the sin is confined to the heart there is little harm done ; 
but that is the very place upon which God's eye is fixed. The 
Christian finds it easy to keep his mere outward actions right ; 
but his heart gives him great trouble. He mourns over its 
wanderings as did David and Paul, and says, " How long shall 
vain thoughts dwell within me." As the least spark of fire, if 
encouraged, would burn a whole city, so evil indulged in the 
heart will break out in open and disgraceful acts of sin. So 
was it with Achan. His next step was to put forth his hand 
and steal the accursed thing. Let the devil get a strong desire 
for sin lodged in the heart, and then the very first favorable 
opportunity, when there is little chance of detection and ex- 
posure, the open act will be committed. "Lust, when it 
hath conceived, bringeth forth sin." 

We see in Achan 's case that no mai) can live to himself. 
Shame, defeat and death were all brought upon the people of 
Israel by this man's conduct. That protection that covered 
their heads in the day of battle was withdrawn. Their heav- 
enly friend said, " I will not be with you any more, unless ye 
put away the accursed thing." This wicked man was more to 
be feared than all their enemies. If you could find out the 
wickedest man in a nation, that would be the greatest enemy 
which that nation has ; and yet you might find him very boast- 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 177 

ful of his patriotism, while his sin was bringing down upon the 
land the curse of God. Thus the enemy that the church of 
God has to fear is, not the infidel or the bold blasphemer, but 
the inconsistent member. These are they that keep back the 
blessing of the Most High, and bring up a reproach upon the 
cause of truth that cannot easily be wiped away. 

What anguish of heart sinners cause to good men. See 
Joshua lying upon his face upon the ground, pouring out the 
deep anguish of his soul before the Lord. Listen to David 
and Jere iiiah pouring out the wail of their sorrowful souls 
because of the wickedness around them. Sinner ! how it adds 
to your guilt that a praying father has wept in bitterness of 
soul over you. Did it not add to the guilt of Jerusalem that 
the gracious Savior wept over her } Ah ! yes, these tears will 
rise up with condemning power in the day of judgment. 

Let us learn from Achan's case never to undervalue the 
power of temptation. At the very time we may think our- 
selves most secure we may be in greatest danger of a fall. 
You can meet no temptation in your own strength ; for, if you 
have no better armor than that, the feeblest arrow that Satan 
aims will pierce you through and through. Peter was never 
more in danger than when he boasted how firmly he stood. 

We may learn, from the example of Joshua, that a good man 
may be putting prayer in the place of some other duty. He 
was lying upon his face before the ark, praying, when God said 
unto him, " Get thee up ; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy 
face .'*" Prayer can only succeed when we are using all the 
means within our reach. W^e must search out every idol, seek 
to mortify every sin, and maintain the purity of the church of 
Christ, else our prayers will be hindered and the work of God 
cease to advance. 

We come now to consider a most striking evidence of 
Joshua's faith and power in prayer. The Gibeonites, witness- 
ing the powers of the army of Israel, and greatly alarmed for 
their own safety, sent to the general a deputation, representing 
that they came from a great distance, and requesting the privi- 
lege of forming an alliance with his people. After some 



178 THE world's hope. 

inquiries the heads of Israel gave their consent to this, and the 
treaty was consummated. But when it was discovered that these 
Gibeonites were neighbors, the people of Israel were dissatisfied 
with what their leaders had done and wished the treaty to be 
annulled. This Joshua refused to do, considering that it would 
be a violation of public faith. The rest of the Canaanites be- 
came enraged at Gibeon, as having acted the part of an apos- 
tate nation, and joined to make war against it. Joshua felt in 
honor bound to protect and defend his allies, and the result 
was, a great battle was fought, in which his arms were victo- 
rious. 

It was on this occasion that a great miracle was wrought in 
answer to prayer. God arrested the sun in the heavens in 
order that a total defeat of his enemies might be effected. 
Much difficulty and many perplexities have been raised regard- 
ing this miracle. The fact, however is, Divinely authenticated 
by the word of truth ; and as to the way in which it was done, 
that was God's matter, with which we have nothing to do. 
Surely, no one will say that anything is too hard for God. He 
has laws that govern in the works of creation, but these laws 
do not govern Him. He has not enslaved himself by his own 
laws so that he cannot hear the prayer of his own people and 
work miracles for their deliverance if he deems it proper. Men 
talk about fixed laws as if even God himself could not break 
them. This is surely setting up the laws of nature above the 
Creator himself. As the maker of a watch can stop it when 
he pleases, putting it back or forward at pleasure ; so the Maker 
of all things still holds the entire control of the great fabric of 
creation that came from his own hands. 

We may not follow Joshua through all those wars by which the 
land of promise was at last put in full possession of Israel. Infi- 
dels have made an outcry against Joshua as a blood-thirsty man, 
and destitute of all humanity, because of the way he treated 
the Canaanites. But it should be remembered that they were 
destroyed by the direct command of God, and that the terri- 
ble judgments that came upon them were caused by their 
wickedness, which made them rii)e for devouring vengeance. 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. 179 

Divine mercy and patience, that had been so long with them, 
now retired from the field and left justice to do its vengeful 
work. God sent the same judgments upon the Jews on ac- 
count of their sins, at a subsequent period of their history, 
when Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and her people 
caused to pass through sufferings,the bare recital of which makes 
our blood run cold. But those infidels that denounce Joshua 
have not a word to say against Titus on account of his cruelty. 

When the whole land was conquered, Joshua made a wise 
division of it among the different tribes. He kept nothing 
for his own family, but the people gave him Timnath-serah, 
where the rest of his life was spent in inward and outward 
peace. With the approval of God, with an inward conscious- 
ness of having done his duty, and with the love and gratitude 
of the whole nation, his days glided peacefully on. He lived 
one hundred and ten years, and when he died was carried to 
the grove, amid great manifestations of sorrow by the whole 
people for whom he had done so much. 

When this great and good man was near eternity, and with 
the hallowed influence of coming glory upon his mind, he 
gathered the people together to give them his parting address 
He enters upon a solemn review of all the Lord had done for 
them in the past, for the double purpose of exciting within 
their minds gratitude for what they had received, and trust for 
the future. A review of the past is very profitable, if it is 
done in the right spirit. We can then look upon our sins and 
short-comings after the excitement and passion that accom- 
panied them have passed away ; and are humbled in the very 
dust on account of them. We see the hand of God in so 
marked a manner, leading us in the right way and by the best 
means, though we did not think so at the time ; and we see 
his wisdom overruling our very faults for our good. 

Joshua goes on, in a most earnest manner, to warn them 
against the idolatry around them. They must not have any 
intimacy with idolaters, must not intermarry with them, nor in 
any way put themselves into danger of falling into their 
abominations. We are to shun the very appearance of evil 



l8o THE world's hope. 

To dabble around the edges of sin is the surest way to be en- 
gulfed in destruction. He warns them of the terrible deso- 
lation that would come upon them if they departed from the 
living God ; and that as he had been faithful to his promises, 
they would find him equally true in his threatening. His ad- 
dress reminds us of the words of Paul, " Knowing the terrors 
of the Lord, we persuade men." 

The Lord prolonged the life of his servant so that he was 
able to deliver a second address. This he did at Shechem, a 
place of blessed memories. This was the place where Abra- 
ham settled on his coming to Canaan, and where God ap- 
peared to him with words of comforting promise. Near it 
stood the mounts Gerizim and Ebal, where the people renewed 
their covenant upon their coming into the land. The spot 
selected then was calculated to remind them of two things, 
God's promise to them, and their promise to God. Joshua 
goes into a history of Jehovah's dealings with them, and then 
makes a pointed appeal to them to serve the Lord in sincerity 
and truth. He brings his remarks to a close with the solemn 
appeal, " Choose you this day whom ye will serve." The peo- 
ple, as with one voice, pledged themselves to serve the Lord ; 
and in memory of the event a great stone was set up, Joshua 
uttering the solemn words, " This stone shall be a witness un- 
to us.' 

We see the people, with tears in their eyes, turn away to 
their several homes, while the venerable servant of the Lord 
goes to his home to die. Of his death-bed, or the words he 
uttered there, we know nothing. No doubt his end was peace- 
ful as the going down of the summer sun. Of the blessed- 
ness of his admission into the heavenly. Canaan, his meeting 
with Moses with whom he had enjoyed such sweet intercourse 
on earth and, above all, his enjoyment in the presence of the 
Lord, whom he had loved and served so faithfully, we can 
form but a faint conception. His faith had ended in sight. 
and his expectation in full enjoyment. 

Thus the redeemed of the Lord are brought safely and 
surely to their fair inheritance. The Captain of our salvation, 



JOSHUA, THE PIOUS SOLDIER. l8l 

of whom Joshua was a type, is leading his people through 
many conflicts, only to bring them off more than conquerors. 
And when the last redeemed soul shall be gathered from earth 
and led into the heavenly glory, what a jubilee of rejoicing 
there will be in that sinless congregation. It will then be seen 
that not one of all the promises have failed, and rising and 
swelling into a rapturous song, their hearts will be poured out 
in the words, '' Our Jesus has done all things well." 

" Midst crosses, Faith her triumph knows ; 
The palm-tree pressed more vigorous grows ; 

Go tread the grasses 'neath thy feet — 
The stream that flows is full and sweet ; 

In troubles, virtues grow and shine, 
Like pearls beneath the ocean brine. 

" Crosses abound : love seeks the skies ; 
Blow the rough winds, the flames arise ; 

When hopeless gloom the welkin shrouds, 
The sun comes laughing through the clouds; 

The cross makes pure aff'ection glow, 
Like oil that on the fire we throw. 

'' Who wears the cross prays oft and well ; 
Bruised herbs send forth the sweetest smell; 

Were ships ne'er tossed by stormy winds, 
The Pole-star who would car^ to find ? 

Had David spent no darksome hours, 
His sweetest songs had ne'er been ours. 

" From trouble springs the longing hope ; 
From the deep vale we mount the slope . 

Who treads the desert's dreariest way, 
For Canaan most will long and pray ; 

Here finds the trembling dove no rest. 
Flies to the ark, and builds his nest." 



iS?. THE world's HOPE 



CHAPTER XIII. 
JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 

Sin and sorrow are inseT:)arable companions. Ours is a 
weeping world because it is a sinful world. We cannot pass 
through it without experiencing affliction, less or more. And 
those afflictions become to us a blessip^ or a curse, according 
to the use we make of them. They uiust, in the very nature 
of things, either harden or soften our hearts. We will come 
out of the furnace either purified like goldj or blackened and 
hardened by the process through which we have passed. Un- 
der the chastening hand of God we will learn to say with 
David, " It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; "or else 
we will say in the hardened spirit of Cain, " My punishment is 
greater than I can bear." 

Some, under the losses and crosses of life, render themselves 
and all around them miserable, by bitter and unavailing com- 
plaints. Others sit down under their trouble with an attempt 
at stoical indifference, submitting to the lashes of something 
they call fate. Others, taught by a false philosophy, try to find 
comfort to themselves and to impart comfort to others by say- 
ing, ■' We must just submit to what can't be helped." None of 
these are the Christian's methods of finding comfort in trouble. 
In the story of Job's life we may learn how to bear the loss of 
friends, health, riches and honors, in a. spirit at once rational 
and pleasing to God. 

There are some who would take away Job from the list of 
Scripture characters altogether. They deny him a real exist- 
ence, turning the history which we have of him into a parable 
or allegory ; but this finds no warrant in the Bible. Job is 
mentioned in other parts of the Scriptures, and his name^ 
connected with persons who are acknowledged to be real char- 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 183 

acters. For example, in the fourteenth chapter of Ezekiel, 
Moab, Daniel and Job are spoken of together. Men might as 
well attempt to make Abraham, Noah, or Daniel, a mere crea- 
ture of fancy, as Job. The Apostle James makes direct allu- 
sion to him in the fifth chapter of his epistle : " Ye have heard 
of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; 
that the Lord is very pitiful." This is spoken as of a real 
character ; and it seems absurd to think that the Holy Spirit 
would hold up an imaginary person as an example and model 
to Christians in all after ages. 

There has been a great deal of learned discussion as to the 
authorship of the Book of Job. The most general opinion is 
that it was written by Moses during his long and lonely so- 
journ in Midian. That it is very ancient, is evident from the 
fact that there is no reference to the deliverance of Israel froin 
the bondage of Egypt ; nor to the many wonderful events 
attending their journey to the promised land. Except the 
book, of Genesis it is, in all probability, the most ancient book 
in the world. On this subject Gilfillan says : *' The book of 
Job shows a mind smit with a passion for nature in Her sim- 
plest, most solitary and elementary forms — gazing perpetually 
at the great shapes of the material universe and reproducing to 
us the infinite wonder with which the first inhabitants of the 
world must have seen their first sunrise, their first thunder- 
storm, their first moon waning; their first midnight heaven 
expanding like an arch of triumph over their happy heads. 
One object of the book is to prophecy of nature — to declare 
its testimony to the Most High — to unite the leaves of its 
trees, the wings of its fowls, the eyes of its stars, in one act of 
adoration to Jehovah. August undertaking, and meet for one 
raised in the desert, anointed with the dew of heaven, and 
by God himself inspired." 

Job is brought before us a man great and distinguished ; 
the greatest of all the men of the East, we are told. There 
are many kinds of greatness according to the estimate of 
different persons as to what constitutes it. Some think that 
the possession of great wealth alone constitutes greatness. 



184 THE world's hope. 

Others that distinguished birth and hereditary titles confer- 
greatness ; while still others consider genius alone as impart- 
ing greatness. Job had a kind of greatness above all these; 
it was the greatness of true goodness. He was high in rank, 
according to the idea of his times, being patriarch of his tribe. 
He had also great wealth, and extensive possessions. That he 
was a great man intellectually is also clear from the high poetic 
beauty of his utterances, the power of his imagination and the 
clear logic of his arguments. But he was great in a better and 
higher sense ; for we are told that he was " perfect and upright, 
one that feared God and eschewed evil." Of course, we are 
not to understand the word perfect here as meaning that he 
was sinless, for he repeatedly acknowledged himself a sinner. 
It means that he was perfectly sincere and free from guile. A 
sinless perfection, so far as the creature is concerned, is not to 
be found on earth ; for " all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God." Any claim of that kind, set up by fallen man, 
can only spring from pride and self-righteousness. ' 

But there is a sense in which every believer is perfect before 
God — a sense in which he is without sin. He is perfectly jus- 
tified for Jesus' sake. He is complete in Christ. There is not 
one sin left unpardoned, not one guilty act left unatoned for, 
and not one dark spot that the blood of Jesus cannot wash 
away. So that, in the sense of being perfectly justified from 
all things, the believer is perfect. Paul brings this out in the 
tenth chapter of Hebrews : " By one offering Christ has per- 
fected forever them that are sanctified." In this sense Job 
was perfect. Through the blood of sacrifice he looked away 
to Calvary and was justified through faith in a Savior to come. 
There has been but one way of salvation in every age, and 
that way he knew ; for he said, " I know that my Redeemer 
Hveth." 

Job comes before us as a highly prosperous man ; as one 
who seems to have all that heart can wish. He lives in a com- 
fortable home, has every necessary within his reach, has power 
and authority among his fellows, is highly popular among all 
ranks and conditions of society, being reverenced, as we are 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 185 

told, " By the young and old, by nobles and by princes." Be- 
sides all this, he had grown up around him healthy and loving 
children ; and better than all, and above all, he had the appro- 
val of God, filling his soul with a foretaste of heaven. 

Now, that he stood firm for God and duty in the midst of 
all this, speaks highly for the spirituality of his mind. How 
many in the midst of prosperity forget God. How many in 
the midst of power become vain and arrogant. How many who, 
when their bodily wants are all supplied, forget the wants of 
their immortal souls. Not so with this good man. The 
tendency of riches is to harden the heart, and to make us for- 
get the sufferings of others. Being successful in all our own 
undertakings, we are apt to blame those who are not so, as the 
victims of their own folly. Hence, we are ready to think that 
poverty and crime are inseparably united. 

But Job felt in regard to his wealth, that he was only a 
steward of his Lord's bounties, an almoner of the blessings of 
heaven to the poor. And he gave with a kind and loving 
spirit. He did not, by a haughty and tyrannical manner, hurt 
the feelings of those whose wants he relieved. He did not 
wound the spirit while he fed the body. He showed deep 
sympathy in all his intercourse with the afflicted. His own 
words are, " Did I not weep for him that was in trouble ? 
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?" In regard to such a 
man, we rejoice in his prosperity, we aje pleased when his 
riches increase ; for his good is the good of all. He gives as 
he gets, and the more he receives the more blessed are those 
around him. 

Now, when the bolts of adversity suddenly strike such a 
man, we are taken by surprise. Like thunder rolling out of a 
clear sky, it startled us by its unexpectedness. And'not only 
so, but we are puzzled and perplexed by such a thing being 
permitted under the government of a good God. The fre- 
quent afflictions of good men, and the temporary prosperity 
of the wicked, have led to dark and unhappy reflections irt the 
minds of those who felt themselves confronted with this mys- 
tery. Among the Jews the idea seemed to have been quite 



i86 THE world's hope, 

general, that great afflictions were an evidence of great sins; 
and this error our Lord frequently rebuked during his minis- 
try upon earth. Job's friends could not but acknowledge 
that his outward conduct was correct, and therefore, they 
came to the conclusion that there must have been dark, hidden 
hypocrisy to account for so much suffering. Even our Lord's 
disciples, who ought to have known better, pointed to a poor 
blind man and asked, " Who did sin, this man or his parents, 
that he is born blind ?" Under the superior light of the gos- 
pel we know that afflictions are an evidence of God's love 
rather than of his displeasure. They are sent to accomplish 
the very highest good ; and are often effectual when all other 
means have failed. But under a dark dispensation this was 
not so clearly seen ; and the book of Job would be of great 
service in clearing up this mystery, and vindicating the ways 
of God to man. 

We should remember that this book is thrown into a poetic 
form, and that the different scenes presented are highly figura- 
tive and dramatic. The writer suddenly takes us to the court 
of heaven, on a day when the ministering angels are assembled 
before God, giving an account of their missions of love. W^e 
are made to see these holy ones standing reverently before 
Jehovah, when Satan also presents himself. He is asked 
whence he came, and to his significant answer we should all 
give heed. " From^oing to and fro in the earth, and from 
walking up and down in it." This accords with what an 
inspired writer says of him, that he goes about like a roaring 
lion, seeking whom he may devour. The Lord is then repre- 
sented as speaking in high terms of Job ; to which the dark, 
scowling fiend replied, "Does Job serve God for naught.^" 
This question implied that he considered all Job's piety as 
selfishness ; that he served God, because he was well paid for 
it ; and because constant blessings and favors were showered 
upon his pathway. Let these only be removed, let his 
religion cease to />ay, and instead of worshiping God, Satan 
insisted that he would curse him to his face. 

We have here a most striking illustration of the union of sin 



0mi^"'r''y' 




JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 187 

and selfishness. Satan is the most selfish being in the whole 
universe, because he is the most sinful. Now, when any being 
becomes thoroughly selfish he cannot believe in the existence 
of disinterestedness. Unbelief shuts up the soul in thick 
darkness, and there is no faith in either God or man. The idea 
that any one would give anything for nothing, he regards as one 
only to be laughed at. You need not tell him ; he knows bet- 
ter ; he knows what human nature is; and is not to be en- 
trapped by fine spun theories of benevolence and disinterested- 
ness. 

But the meaning of all this talk about knowing human na- 
ture, is simply that he knows a little of his own nature. He 
knows that he would not give something for nothing. He 
knows that there is no disinterestedness about him ; and as 
water cannot rise above its own level, in his conception of 
others he cannot rise higher than himself. Let a minister 
show great zeal for the salvation of souls, and sinners will tell 
you that he does it to increase the membership of his church, 
and consequently to add to his own salary. I know a minister 
who, feeling deeply for perishing souls, went out into the 
str^eets, hoping to save some who never go to the house of God. 
An editor published in his paper that this was done to fill up 
his church and increase his pay ; when the fact was, that at 
that very time his church was crowded to the door, every pew 
rented, and more constantly being asked for. In a city where 
I resided several of the lady members of the church went out 
into the lowest haunts of poverty and crime, carrying food 
and clothing to the starving wretches that pined and shivered 
in these filthy dens. These poor creatures would often ask 
the ladies what salary they got for doing this ; finding it im- 
possible to believe that any one would go t^irough all this toil 
and exposure and danger for nothing. When told that it was 
all done from love to Jesus, and love to them as his creatures, 
they stared in absolute astonishment. Some shook their heads 
and looked incredulous. There was no room in their selfish 
souls for such a grand conception. Like their master, the 
Devil, they had no faith. 



i88 THE world's hope. 

Take another illustration. The young people connected 
with my church commenced a mission school in one of the 
most wicked parts of the city. It did, indeed, seem a forlorn 
hope to attempt doing any good there. The young people, 
however, were full of the love of Christ, and of love to souls, 
and went from House to house inviting the children in. At the 
appointed hour there was a good attendance. I noticed two 
little boys, dirty and ragged, enter, and casting a suspicious 
look around them, take a seat near the door. One of them laid 
his hat upon the end of a bench. It was dirty, greasy, and 
torn, and certainly not worth a cent; but no sooner had he 
laid it down than his companion, giving him a dig in his ribs 
with his elbow, exclaimed, " Bill, pick up your hat; they II hook 
ity Poor child! he had lived in such scenes of crime and 
selfishness, had been so accustomed to hatred and suspicion, 
that he firmly believed that we had been to all that pains of 
furnishing a school-house and inviting him in, only to hook his 
old hat. 

The more men are like Satan, that is, the more wicked they 
are, the harder it is to get them to believe in God's disinterested 
love. Even when conscience lashes them into an attempt* to 
come back to their Maker, their first thought is that they must 
pay something for their pardon. They bring, in some way, a 
price in their hand. This is the reason that those forms of 
religion that permit the sinner to pay something for his salva- 
tion are so popular. The good news of the gospel, that God 
pardons freely, without money and without price, they find it 
hard to receive. There seems no room in their minds 
for such a glorious view of God, they are ,so filled and narrowed 
up with sin and selfishness. 

We learn from the history of Job that Satan has no indepen- 
dent power to injure God's people. He could do nothing 
without permission, and all that he did do was overruled for 
the increase of the faith and purity of him whom he attacked. 
With all his boasted knowledge of human nature, he was com- 
pletely defeated. His cunning devices were all foiled. The 
reason is, that the same Lord that permitted Job to be tried 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. ' 189 

sustained him by his mighty power in the trial. If the powers 
of darkness were permitted to sift Peter, the Great Advocate 
was praying for him at the same time, that his faith might not 
fail. 

The blow has at last fallen, and that, too, at a time when it 
would be felt most severely, on one of the joyful days of his 
life. There was a family festival at the house of his oldest son. 
They were a cheerful, happy, united family ; joy beamed in 
every face and flashed from every eye. No unhappy jealousies 
no unlovely bickerings, disturbed the harmony of the occasion. 
It was a sight to gladden a father's heart, and even to arrest 
the pleased attention of a passing angel. " Behold how good 
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." 

There are some things that are pleasant, but not good ; there 
are others, again, that are good but not pleasant ; but this was 
both pleasai^ and good. Job is not with his children on this 
0(?casion, but he rejoiced in their joy, and sent to heaven many 
a prayer that their earthly prosperity might not lead them to 
forget God. 

But what means this ! A man is seen rushing towards the 
house, and his face tells a tale of woe before his tongue can 
utter a word. His clothes are torn and bloody, and he has all 
the appearance of one who has passed through a severe conflict. 
He reports to his master that while he and his fellow servants 
were at work in the fields, a band of Sabeans fell upon them, 
killed all but himself, and went off with the cattle. It has often 
been noticed in families, that one trouble scarcely ever comes 
alone. Rushing after each other like the great waves of the 
stormy sea, they come down upon the heads of the sufferers 
with surging might. Scarcely has this man finished telling his 
tale of woe, when another comes in hot haste, breathless, pale, 
and a whole volume of evil tidings in his eye. He reports that 
the lightnings of heaven had fallen in consuming blaze, and 
killed all Job's servants and the vast flocks of sheep which they 
had been attending. He had scarcely done speaking when an- 
other reporter of evil tidings entered. He reports that the 
Chaldeans, in three bands, have seized upon the camels, and 



190 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

taken them away, killing the servants while defending their 
master's property. But heavier and heavier fall the blows 
upon this good man's head. His property is nearly all gone; 
he is now a poor man , but his children are yet spared to him. 
They have always been kind and loving and dutiful, and he 
is still rich in possessing them. But here comes another mes- 
senger with words of horror ! A wild tempest, a desolating 
tornado has smote the house where his children had their 
family gathering, and crushed them to death in its ruin. . Oh, 
what a crushing blow is this ! The loss of riches could have 
been borne, but his brave, his lovely, his loving children — the 
joy of his life, the beloved of his soul — all gone ; never to see 
them more, never again to gladden his heart and his home with 
their beaming smiles and loving ways ! 

Who that have lost children themselves do not pity this old 
man, standing in this howling tempest of adversity, like a 
solitary tree in a field, stripped of all its branches. I remem- 
Der meeting a brother minister in Canada, who when he ieft 
Scotland had a large family of lovely children ; but when he 
landed at Montreal had not one. They had sickened and died, 
one after another, till all had been committed to the great 
deep. He looked like a man who had been stunned with a 
blow on the head. He walked and talked like a man in a 
dream. But Job's children were not taken from him by dis- 
ease, giving him a little time to prepare for the appalling loss : 
but suddenly, without a n^oment's notice, he was written child- 
less. And then, it was by a violent death that he lost them. 
No doubt, to the Christian sudden death is sudden glory ; but 
it fills us with horror to have the bodies of our friends mangled 
by sudden death, it may be almost beyond recognition. Let 
us learn from this dark catalogue of trouble which befell Job, 
to keep a loose hold of earth, and not to set our affections too 
strongly upon anything below the skies, for we know not wha> 
a day may bring forth. A few brief hours may sweep ou; 
possessions from the face of the earth. Let us have oui 
treasure in heaven, our all in God himself. 

Meantime, h^'-v b^-;'"; t^is rood mnn this succession of 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. I9I 

troubles ? In such a way as to excite our highest admiration. 
He does not throw himself upon the ground in an agony of 
turbulent and frenzied sorrow. He does not rush off into the 
wilderness, nor hide himself in a hermit's cave, there to brood 
over his losses. It is true that he feels those losses keenly, but 
his sorrow is manly and dignified. There is no extravagant 
expression of his sorrow, either in word or act. His faith 
gains a complete victory, compared with which all the victories 
ever gained on battle fields sink into insignificance. By that 
faith he conquered Satan, and set an example that has been 
like a tower of strength to believers in every age since his day. 
Listen to the sublime outpourings of his anguished soul. " The 
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the 
name of the Lord." 

But his afflictions are not yet ended. Fierce disease 
fastens upon his own person. He is smitten with sore boils, 
from, the sole of his feet unto his crown. Eminent scholars 
and physicians, judging from the symptoms described, say that 
it was the black leprosy with which he was afflicted. This is 
described as a universal ulcer, and one of the most painful and 
loathsome diseases which can afflict humanity. He is brought 
before us in a most forlorn and miserable condition ; sitting 
among ashes and scraping himself with a potsherd. We are 
told that the disease named is so offensive that all the friends 
flee from the sufferer, leaving him to be his own nurse. The 
whole is such a dark picture of sorrow and desolation that 
our hearts break out in pity, and we would be glad if 
death would step in and end the scene. His own picture 
of his state is this : " When I lie down I say, when shall 
I arise, and the night be gone ? I am full of tossings to and 
fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with 
wounds and clouds of dust ; my skin is broken and become 
loathsome." 

At this crisis we hear, for the first time, of his wife. We are 
glad to learn that she still lives ; and are ready to assure our- 
selves that she will bring him comfort. No man can be utterly 
desolate and forsaken who has the strong affection and undy- 



J92 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

ing love of a good wife to fall back upon. Heaven's richest 
gift to man is a wise, loving, true-hearted wife. She will prove 
to him a helpmeet in every trial; and her sympathy, her strong 
faith in her husband, and her hope in the future will prove an 
unfailing support. But, alas ! even this fails Job in the day 
of- trouble. We would not wonder to find his wife the victim 
of bitter grief and sunk under a load of despondency. Many 
of the calamities that had befallen him had smitten her also. 
The children that he had lost were also her children. If he 
was homeless and beggared by the loss of his earthly all, she 
was an equal sharer in the loss. We are prepared to excuse 
her, then, for any outbreak of passionate sorrow to which she 
may give vent. But when we see her approach him with the 
harsh, unwomanly, and blasphemous words, " Curse God and 
die '" we are shocked, and feel that this is a heavy addition to 
his troubles. His property is gone, his children are gone, his 
health gone, his high position in society gone, even his friends 
are turned against him and are denouncing him as a hypocrite ; 
and now he has nothing left but his God and his religion, and 
even his own wife asks him to renounce these. To curse his 
God, and to tear from his agonized soul the hope of heaven, is 
the counsel which Satan gives ; not through his own foul, lying 
lips, but through the lips of her he had loved so long and so 
well. His answer, under the circumstances, is one of great 
mildness and wisdom. "Thou speakest as one of the foolish 
women speaketh. What ! shall we receive good at the hand of 
God, and shall we not receive evil ?" 

The Apostle Paul tells us that " no affliction for the present 
seemeth to be joyous, but rather grievous." He then points 
us out the results which affliction works, such as the peaceable 
fruits of righteousness, and the far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. The bud may be bitter, but the flower will 
be sweet. 

A minister tells us that he was spending several days in one 
of our Western cities. He put up at a hotel, and one morn- 
ing he heard, while up in his room, the most wonderful whist- 
ling he bad ever listened to. It seemed like the notes of a 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. I93 

bird, but he thought it could not be that, for there was a per- 
fectly regular tune kept up with much power. Though he was 
in the third story, yet the music came gushing up in its sweet 
melody, and seemed to fill the whole house. He ran down 
stairs to get a sight of the wonderful performer, looking every 
man that he met in the face. At last he asked the clerk who 
it was that had such amazing power as a whistler. Laughing 
at his simplicity he pointed him to a canary bird that had been 
trained to perform in this way, and was valued at one hundred 
and fifty dollars. 

" How was that bird trained to sing this way .?" the gentle- 
man enquired. In reply the clerk told him that during the 
training process the bird is nearly starved and shut up in a 
room that is almost dark. While it is under this severe disci- 
pline, and its attention undivided, a bird organ is made to play 
this one tune over and over again, for days. Hearing nothing 
else, and taught by his troubles, the poor little bird takes up the 
tune which he performs so perfectly. 

Thus it is that God permits his people to be afflicted that 
they may learn the heavenly song. He shuts them up in the 
dark room of sorrow, away from the tempting sights and sounds 
of the world, that they may, without distraction, listen to his 
voice and learn to sing the higher melodies of glory. Blessed 
are those who patiently wait the Lord's good time to work out 
their deliverance. When the song of grace is fully learned, he 
brings them into a large place, sets their feet upon a rock, and 
others learn from them the sweet song of redeeming love. 

There was lately on exhibition, in New York, a beautiful 
work of art, a drawing so perfect, that in the opinion of the 
best judges, it deserved to be put beside the works of the great 
masters. It tells a story of patience and perseverance, of 
courage and self-reliance, and of the power of the mind over 
outward difficulties, truly amazing. 

The drawing is by John Carter, and it was executed in India 
ink, with the point of a hair pencil which he held between his 
teeth. He has executed a number of pieces, all of which have 
been eagerly bought up, but the one referred to is said to be 



194 THE world's hope. 

his masterpiece, and is called ''The Rat Catcher and his £>o£s." 
Carter was a poor, uneducated, common day laborer, having 
only been long enough at school to learn to read and write. 
One day in climbing a tree he fell and injured his spine. He 
was taken up for dead ; but, contrary to all expectation, lived 
for fourteen years without power to move a limb of his body, 
and without feeling anywhere below his neck. His head and 
neck had feeling and power of motion. To pass the time he 
began to draw, holding the brush in his teeth and moving it 
with his lips and tongue. A beautiful butterfly came in at his 
window one day, and he took that for his first subject. He 
went on day by day, forgetting his troubles in his intense inter- 
est in his occupation, till he produced a picture that excites the 
admiration of the best judges in Britain and America. 

Nor was this all. He died in 1850, and a short memoir of 
him was written by his minister, from which we learn that his 
moral qualities kept pace with his intellectual. While he was 
learning to draw the works of God the Holy Spirit was draw- 
ing the Divine image upon his soul. His poor, hard, repulsive 
life was made lovely and of good report, and the humble cot- 
tage in which he lived became to many like the gate of heaven. 
A sweet calm, unbroken by fretfulness or repining, sat upon 
his soul day by day, and made a visit to him the most power- 
ful of sermons. And while he showed such energy, ingenuity, 
and invincible pluck in overcoming difficulties, yet in humil- 
ity and gratitude and cheerful piety, he showed that his trust 
was in God alone. 

So it is that thousands in the school of affliction have learned 
that of which they had no conception in prosperous days. They 
have in quiet patience possessed their souls till the Savior's 
image could be seen in them. Could we to-day go up to that 
heavenly multitude, in numbers beyond computation, and speak 
to them one by one, we would find that they had come there 
through much tribulation And now they know that it was not 
too much — that not one trial, not one stroke of the rod could 
have been spared. 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. IQ5 

" All their toils and conflicts over, 

Lo ! they dwell with Christ above ; 
Oh ! what glories they discover 

In the Savior whom they love ! 
Now they see him face to face, 

Him who saved them by His grace." 

But to return to Job. Three of his special friends paid him 
a visit of sympathy and condolence. He was so fearfully 
changed that they could scarcely recognize him, and contrast- 
ing his present condition with that in which they had last seen 
him, "they lifted up their voices and wept." With much deli- 
cacy of feeling they sat down by him upon the ground without 
uttering a word ; paying, as the poet says : 

" A debt of reverence to distress so great." 

We have an account of a long discussion between Job and 
his friends, into which we have not room fully to enter. To 
do so would require a book by itself. Job still retains his faith 
in God, but through weakness of the flesh, and his extreme 
mental and bodily anguish, he gives utterance to sentiments 
that cannot be justified. There are lamentations of too de- 
sponding a character ; and he shows too much self-righteous- 
ness in vindicating himself. Eliphaz, being the oldest of the 
three, is the first speaker. His arguments are powerful, and 
his language has great poetic beauty and eloquence. But his 
whole address is founded upon the false conception that Job*s 
great sufferings are a proof that he was a great sinner. 

In the course of his remarks he has a splendid description 
of a supernatural visitor, which has been greatly admired by 
men of literary taste. Many attempts have been made to 
describe in poetic numbers the visits of spirits to earth ; but 
their description remains unapproached and unapproachable. 
Barnes says of it, " It is impossible to conceive anything more 
sublime than the whole description. It was midnight. There 
was silence and solitude all around. At that fearful hour the 
vision came, and a sentiment was communicated to Eliphaz of 
the- utmost importance, and suited to make the deepest possible 
impression. The time, the quiet, the form of the image, its 



ig6 THE world's hope 

passing along, and then suddenly standing still ; the silence, 
and then the deep and solemn voice — all were fitted to pro- 
duce the profoundest awe." 

Bildad, the Shuhite, is the next speaker. There is a great 
deal of good sound truth in his remarks ; but going upon the 
ground that Job must have been a hypocrite, it sounds harsh, 
severe, and cruel. 

Zophar is the third of those miserable comforters. He 
takes the same ground as the rest, as to the cause of Job's 
affliction, and is even more violent and denunciatory against 
the man of God. There is in his discourse one of the grand- 
est descriptions of God's attributes. He dwells upon the 
sovereignty of God and the unsearchableness of his ways; 
and argues from the perfection of the Divine wisdom the folly 
of sinful man setting himself up to question God's ways. 

While the controversy was going on a young man, called 
Elihu, had been an earnest listener, and now in a very modest 
way began to give his opinions. He rebukes both sides ; Job 
for justifying himself rather than the Lord, who doeth right- 
eously, and his friends for condemning, without cause, so good 
a man. With wonderful power he shows the impossibility of 
sinful man making himself acceptable to God by his own 
works. And his speech had a great effect upon Job. He 
makes no direct reply to it, but his eyes become open to his 
faults, and to a humble view of himself before God. Toward 
the close of his remarks there is a very sublime description 
of a thunder storm. Nowhere can we find^ in the writings 
of uninspired men, anything to be compared to it. In the 
eighteenth Psalm there is a description of the same thing, that 
perhaps excels it. It is likely that such a storm was raging 
at the very time Elihu was speaking ; for shortly after we are 
told of the Lord speaking to Job out of the whirlwind. 

This speech of the Almighty is awfully solemn and sublime. 
Bishop Patrick says, " that its grandeur is as much above all 
other poetry as thunder is louder than a whisper." Gilfillan, 
who regards the book of Job as an allegory, says, " To put 
suitable language in the mouth of Deity, has generally tasked 



JOB, THE PATIENT SUFFERER. 197 

to Straining or crushed to feebleness the genius of poets." 
Homer, indeed, at times, nobly ventriloquizes from the top of 
Olympus ; but it is ventriloquism ; Homer's thunder, not 
Job's. Milton, while impersonating God, falls flat ; he peeps 
and mutters from the dust ; he shrinks from seeking to fill up 
the compass of the Eternal's voice. Adequately to represent 
God's speaking, required not only the highest inspiration, but 
that the poet had heard, or thought that he heard, his very 
voice, shaping articulate sounds from midnight torrents, from 
the voices of the wind, from the chambers of thunder, from 
the rush of whirlwinds, from the hush of night, and from the 
breeze of day. And doubtless, the author of the book of Job 
had this experience." 

Job is now humbled in the dust. He takes his true position 
as a sinner. He says to God, " I have heard of thee by the 
hearing of the ear; but now mine eyes see thee, wherefore I 
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." The Lord from 
the whirlwind rebukes the three friends in words of strong 
displeasure. They had given a distorted view of God's char- 
acter, and had persistently slandered a good man. They were 
commanded to bring an expiatory sacrifice for themselves, 
while Job is to intercede on their behalf. Prosperity no\^ rolls 
in upon Job. Two-fold more than he had lost is restored to 
him. Friends crowd around him with presents in their hands, 
and in a happy and serene old age he found that the prom- 
ises of God never fail the trusting and confiding believer. 
" Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- 

ing." 

*' Leave all to God, 

Forsaken one, and still thy tears, 

For the Highest knows thy pain ; 
Sees thy suffering and thy fears ; 

Thou shalt not wait his help in vain, 
Leave all to God. 
"Be still and trust ! 
For his strokes are strokes of love 

Thou must for thy profit bear ; 
He thy filial fear would move ; 
Trust thy Father's loving care ; 
Be still and trust ! 



198 THE world's hope. 

" Know God is near ! 
Though thou think him far away, 

Though his mercy long have slept, 
He will come and not delay, 

When his child enough hath wept ; 
For God is near. 

" O, teach him not 
When and how to hear thy prayers ; 

Never doth«our God forget ; 
He the cross who longest bears 
Finds his sorrow's bounds ale set ; 
Then teach him not. 

" If thou love him. 
Walking truly in his ways, 

Then no trouble, cross, or death 
Shakes thy heart or quells thy praise 
All things serve thee here beneath, 
If thou love God !" 



SAMUEL. THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 199 



CHAPTER XIV. 
SAMUEL: THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 

How much the world owes to pious mothers can never be 
known. The men who have done the most to bring our 
wandering race back to God ; who have stood forth the bold 
and unflinching advocates of civil and religious liberty ; in 
whose souls have burned a patriotic fervor that eagerly and 
earnestly aimed at the highest good of their countrymen for 
both world's; men who made no account of life itself when 
put in competition with the glory of God and the high and 
holy interests of truth ; men, in short, who in the presence of 
assembled worlds shall hear the " well done " of the great 
Judge addressed to them, have been delighted to acknowl- 
edge that all that they were, under God, was due to the 
prayers and instructions of their pious mothers. 

It has been noticed that among the women of Israel, there 
■existed a strong desire for children. To be a wife and not a 
mother was regarded as a heavy affliction ; nay, a kind of re- 
proach. This has been accounted for by the influence which 
the promise of the Messiah had upon their minds, each hop- 
ing that the high honor which in the fullness of time was 
given to the Holy Mary might be hers. But this only accounts 
for it in part. They regarded the possession of children as a 
great blessing, " a heritage from the Lord;" and an increase 
of the family was a matter of rejoicing and gratitude. And 
permit me to say, that this is always the case, where society is 
not sunk into a fearfully perverted and corrupted state. Woe 
to the country where children are regarded rather as an in- 
cumbrance than as a blessing, as som'ething to be feared 
rather than desired, and to prevent which means are resorted 
to, at the very thought of which modesty blushes and human- 
ity shudders. 



200 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

This strong desire for children gave rise to -a practice, which, 
not only never had the approval of God, but incurred his 
highest displeasure. I refer to the practice of introducing 
into the household, another or a subordinate wife, when the 
first had no children. The family distractions, the jealousies, 
and heart-burnings, the utter loss of all home comfort, to 
which this almost universally gave rise, proved that the way of 
transgressors is hard. 

The father of Samuel was Elkanah, a Levite, of the city of 
Ephraim. He was. a person of wealth and influence, and 
seems to have been a kind, good. God-fearing man. His wife, 
Hannah, was one of the best of women. Her piety was deep 
and earnest, and marked by great humility and conscientious- 
ness, while her faith in piayer was extraordinary. Her 
husband loved her fondly, but their home was not gladened 
by the voice of childhood, which was a standing sorrow to 
her heart. In an evil hour her husband brought another wife 
to his house, named Penannah, and all comfort fled the 
dwelling. She brought Elkanah sons and daughters, we are 
told; but being a woman of a weak and malignant mind, she 
made Hannah very unhappy by her constant abuse. 

But that good woman was as eminent for her goodness as for 
her piety, and patiently bore evils which could not be helped. 
She made no complaint to her husband, and entered into no 
angry altercations with her foolish and cruel rival. Her meek 
and gentle spirit was far above anything of that kind, and led 
her to carry all her heart troubles to Him who has said, " Call 
upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee." 

Her husband went up yearly to the tabernacle of the Lord 
in Shiloh, to ofl"er sacrifices, taking his family with him. It 
would seem that on such occasions Hannah's rival was at 
special pains to insult her and to triumph over her. Her poor, 
trembling, timid soul, flies to the sanctuary, and pours out her 
troubles into the loving and sympathizing ear of her heavenly 
Friend. 

There is nothing on earth so powerful as prayer. More 
powerful than the might of kings, the decrees of cabinets, or 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 20I 

the mandates of senators, is the prayer of faith. More to be 
feared, by the enemies of truth and righteousness, is the ap- 
peal to heaven, by the humblest child of God, than the tramp 
of armies, and the might of well appointed navies, for prayer 
can do what these cannot, move the arm of God. Hannah's 
prayer was a powerful and an effective one, but it was not a 
noisy one. There were deep groanings within her that could 
not be uttered. Her lips moved, but her voice was only 
heard by the ear of God. Very likely there was the marks of 
deep emotion upon her countenance ; and Eli, the High priest, 
who had been watching her, came to the conclusion that she 
was intoxicated, and administered to her a severe rebuke, 
" How long wilt thou be drunken ? Put away thy wine from 
thee." 

Poor woman ! As if she had not trouble enough already, 
must she be called a drunkard in God's house and by God's 
minister ! How hard and stunning must this blow have been 
to such a gentle and sensitive spirit. The best of men are lia- 
ble to make mistakes in judging of their fellow-creatures, but 
how cautious should we be in forming our opinions about oth- 
ers, and still more so in expressing them. We may offend one 
of God's little ones, and bring upon ourselves a terrible woe. 
What does Hannah do ? Do^s she break out into indignant 
protest and angry invective against such a charge.'' No; she 
treats God's high priest with becoming reverence and courtesy. 
" No, my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have 
drank neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my 
soul before the Lord." 

The good man was convinced that he had made a serious 
mistake, and joined his prayers to her's. She made a vow, 
that if the Lord would give her a son he should be wholly 
devoted to the Lord's service. In due time her prayer was 
answered, and as she gazed, upon the face of her son with all 
a mother's fond love, she called him Samuel, which means, 
asked of the Lord. 

Soon as Samuel was old enough to be spared from his moth- 
er, she is not unmindful of her solemn vow. From the Lord's 



202 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

hands she had received him, and to His service she is resolved 
he shall be dedicated. To part with him, at a time when he 
was becoming most interesting, must have been a hard trial to 
her motherly heart, but faith can triumph even over natural 
affection. We see her then holding her boy by the hand and 
journeying to Shiloh. Perhaps Eli had forgotten her by this 
time, but a few words would soon recall all the circumstances 
of the case. He takes the gift from the mother, recognizing 
the hand of God in the whole matter ;. and from that time, we 
are told, the child ministered to him. 

And now she must go back to her home without him who, 
as far as any earthly thing could, had been the joy and light of 
her dwelling. We expect to hear the voice of weeping and 
lamentation, but instead of that, she breaks forth into a song of 
thanksgiving, and the outgushing of a happy, loving heart. 
But though she has parted with her son and knows that he 
is in safe keeping, she still watches over him, and cares for 
his wants. What a sweet picture is that which the inspired 
.nartator brings before us. " She made him a little coat^ 
and brought it from year to year, when she came with her 
husband to the yearly sacrifice." How these yearly visits 
would be looked forward to, how they would be talked about 
before and after, we need not tell. It has not been thoug^ht 
beneath the dignity of inspired history to mention that little 
coat, every stitch of which was a labor of love. God 'gave 
her other children, who made many demands upon her time ; 
but her oldest son, the child of her many prayers, was never 
forgotten. She saw him growing up in favor with God and 
man. He was humble, prompt in the performance of his 
duties, reverent and earnest in all that related to God's wor- 
ship, greatly beloved by the high priest, and gave promise of 
future greatness even beyond a fond mother's expectations. 

What a great work does that mother accomplish who trains 
up a child for God. Her sphere may seem a small one, her 
lot lowly and obscure ; but world-wide is the influence she 
exerts. Her work will go down undiminished, and extending 
through all ages ; even down to the last moment of recorded 




'SPEAK, LORD, FOR THY SERVANT HEARETH.' 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 205 

time. And yet it is not every good Christian that is a good 
trainer of youth. Some, by sour and gloomy presentation of 
truth, may make religion repulsive to their children. Some, 
by too great severity, break the twig instead of bending it in a 
heavenly direction ; while others, like Eli, refusing to use the 
appropriate restraints, let them rush on, with unbridled passions,, 
to perdition. 

We cannot estimate the great influence of youthful piety. 
Then impressions are received that are to be perpetual as the 
soul's own being. It is then that the die is struck, the in- 
scription impressed, that is to be read through all eternity. 
Then is the crisis of our being — the moulding time of charac- 
ter — that is to develop into an an angel or a fiend. We 
sometimes, in traveling, meet old men mature in wickedness ; 
-lost to faith in God, lost to faith in man's truth or woman's 
virtue ; the wretched, depraved, sensual soul, having engraved 
its likeness upon the wrinkled visage ; the filthy mouth forming 
an outlet for the vile, volcanic-like passions that dwell within ; 
and we are shocked at the sight. But all this maturity in sin 
began in one false step in youth. We are shocked to read in 
the papers accounts of wrecked ships, beaten to pieces by 
angry waves upon frowning cliffs and rocky coasts. In the 
quiet and security of our own homes, we can imagine th&,t we 
hear the shrieks of the perishing ones, rising above the hoarse 
voice of the tempest ; and that we see faces distorted with 
terror, as they are borne on to destruction by the mountain 
billow. But what is this to the wrecks that are going on 
among young souls, every day, in our crowded cities. With 
strong passions within, clamoring for gratification ; with temp- 
tations all around, making them more familiar with sin, they 
are among the breakers; and nothing but early piety, taking 
Jesus for their pilot, can save them. He alone can guide 
them to a secure haven. 

Samuel was consecrated to God. An old man may do this^ 
but he only offers God the dregs of his life. His health, his 
vigor, his bright manhood, his warm, glowing affections, have 
all been given to the world. To deliberately plan to put reli- 



204 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

gion off to old age, is supremely mean, not to speak of its 
wickedness. It is a positive insult to God ; for he gave the 
world the very best gift he had to give, namely, his own Son. 
And yet men will tell us that when they are old and worn out 
in sin and worldliness, they will come with a sudden flaring 
out of piety, and make God a present of the dregs of their 
existence. 

Can we conceive of anything more forlorn and sad than an 
old man sitting amid the wrecks of the past, with dull ears, 
and dim eyes, and benumbed brain, looking over a misspelt 
life, while his sins, gathering round him, call for vengeance, 
like the ghosts of murdered men. He wants to go to heaven ; 
not that he cares about its employments or its holiness, but 
only to escape hell. The habit of delaying religion has be- 
come so strong that it binds him as if with chains of iron ; 
and dozing his days away in a sleepy indifference he passes 
into eternity. Young reader, come early to Jesus. Let the 
first fruits of your whole being be given to him. The most 
useful men the world has ever seen were converted early. 
Samuel, David, Daniel and Timothy are all examples of this. 
And may God make you another illustrious example of the 
same thing ! 

Samuel was not only early called to be a subject of real 
piety, but he was early called into the prophetic office. This 
was done in a remarkable manner. Waiting upon the high 
priest, and performing many little offices for his personal com- 
fort, he slept at night near to his chamber. The old man had 
gone to rest ; and, his duties being all performed, Samuel had 
retired also. It was the silent hour of midnight ; the Levites 
were all asleep; the lights had begun to grow dim in the sanc- 
tuary, when Samuel is aroused by a voice calling his name. 
He goes at once to the room of the high priest, saying, " Here 
am I." Three times he was called, and thrice he responded 
in like manner. On none of those occasions had Eli called 
him, but the aged servant of God, suspecting that there was 
something supernatural in the voice, instructed the youth next 
time he was called to reply, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 205 

heareth." This he did, and the Lord answered by revealing 
to him the fearful judgment he was about to bring upon Eli 
and his family, on account of the wicked and sacrilegious 
conduct of his sons. 

Samuel was now in a difficult position. Eli had ever been a 
kind and loving friend to him ; and he felt great diffidence in 
communicating the awful revelation entrusted to him. He felt 
that the burden of the Lord was upon him; but went about 
his common every day duties as before. Eli, however, sus- 
pected that he had received some communication that he 
wished to keep back ; and solemnly charged him to tell him all 
the truth. This the young lad did, and when the venerable 
man heard the appalling sentence he meekly replied : " It is 
the Lord; let him do what seemeth good in his sight." 

The threatened judgment did not tarry long. Eli was a 
good, pure, kind-hearted man ; as is seen in all his dealings 
with Hannah and her son. But he had no force of character ; 
he was timid, and destitute of m^oral courage. His sons, who 
served with him in the sanctuary, were vile men, profaning by 
their conduct the house of God. This he knew, and no doubt 
mourned over the fact ; but he loved peace more than purity, 
and let matters go on till his sons brought a reproach and a 
disgrace upon the cause of God. The great God is now about 
to take the matter into his own hands ; and Eli has not a word 
to say, but acknowledges his coming punishment right and 
just. That the rebukes of the Almighty should fall upon him, 
is only what he feels that he deserves. Some men would have 
shown resentment against Samuel, as the messenger of those 
sad tidings ; but he loves the youth as much as ever, and only 
condemns himself. 

A war breaks out between the Philistines and the Israelites. 
According to custom the people of Israel take the ark with 
them — the symbol of Divine presence. The possession of that 
sacred object used to put fresh courage into their armies and 
strike terror into the hearts of their foes. But now an alarm- 
ing disaster befalls them. They flee before their enemies ; 
Eli's sons are both killed ; the ark is taken, and the high priest 



2o6 THE world's HOPE. 

dies under the blow inflicted upon him by the sad tidings ! 
It is, indeed, a most affecting picture, to see that old man 
sitting, watching and waiting for tidings from the battle field. 
We are told that his heart trembled for the ark of God. At 
last he hears the noise of the tumult of people ; one comes 
running out of the army, his clothes torn and earth upon his 
head, and tells Eli a tale of horror. His sons are dead — 
great slaughter among the people— Israel fleeing like fright- 
ened sheep before their foes ; and, worst of all, the ark of God 
taken ! Ah ! this was more than he could bear. We see him 
stretch out his trembling and palsied hands ; the ghastly hue 
of death comes over his face ; and, in the touching language 
of the inspired narrative, " He fell from off the seat back- 
ward, by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died ; 
for he was an old man, and heavy." 

This whole narrative reads a most impressive lesson to 
parents and guardians of youth. If we have a restraining 
power and fail to exercise it, so that evil goes on, having too 
little moral courage, or too indolent or selfish a desire for 
peace, we are held accountable for the evil that occurs. We 
are held to account for evil that we could have prevented in 
others and did not, as much as for evil that we directly do 
ourselves. Eli should have restrained his sons, by meekness 
and gentleness if he could, but by the most harsh and most 
severe measures, if nothing else would avail. God should 
have been honored first and above all ; if the nearest and the 
dearest had been turned out beggar upon the world. Here we 
see how one defect of character may destroy the usefulness of 
a good man. This man was gentle,, loving, kind ; took a deep 
interest in the prosperity of God's cause; had great power in 
prayer ; and meekly bore the rebukes of the Lord. But he 
had no firmness, and this made his whole character like a rope 
of sand; so that no dependence could be put in him. We 
must add to our faith, courage ; that is, the power to say no, at 
the right time and at the right place. 

Sin is no trifle. God does not spare it even in his own dear 
people. And if this is the case with them, oh sinner J what 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 207 

v/ill become of you ? " If these things be done in the green 
tree, what shall be done in the dry ? " 

Samuel was now the one to whom the eyes of the people 
turned. They had been long familiar with his wonderful his- 
tory, and recent events had pointed him out as a chosen 
prophet of the Lord. " And Samuel grew, and the Lord was 
with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground." 
He found the nation of Israel in a fearfully corrupt state. The 
sons of Eli had brought the public worship of God into disre- 
pute, and idol worship began to reappear and to become 
popular. The young prophet showed great zeal for the right ; 
his voice was lifted up against the abominations around him ; 
and the trumpet of truth, as sounded by him, gave no uncer- 
tain sound. 

After Samuel was formally recognized as Judge his first act 
was to call an assembly of the people, for fasting and prayer 
and deep humiliation before the Lord. He urged the entire 
extirpation of idolatry ; and promised the people that if this 
was done the Lord would return to them and deliver them 
from the oppression of the Philistines. Their enemy, hearing 
of this great meeting, and judging that it boded them no good, 
came up in battle array against them. For this they were not 
prepared, and great fear took hold of them. But one thing 
was favorable. They had learned to know where their strength 
lay, and said to Samuel, " Cease not to cry unto the Lord our 
God for us." God heard prayer, their enemies were driven 
before them, and in grateful memory of the event, Samuel set 
up a stone, calling it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the 
Lord helped us." 

Every Christian that has carefully noted the ways of the 
Lord with him, can raise up many a joyful Ebenezer. It is a 
sad sign of our ingratitude that we are loud in our cries for 
help, when in trouble, but not so loud in our shouts of praise 
when deliverance comes. Our adorable Lord said : " Were 
there not ten cleansed, but where are the nine ?" Only one 
had come back to give thanks for his cure. To remember past 
mercies, and draw from them occasion of thanksgiving and of 



2o8 THE world's HOPE. 

encouragement for the future, is well pleasing to God. When 
prayer has been answered, and faith has gained a victory, we 
should not permit unbelief to come in with the false insinua- 
tion, that perhaps it was going to happen as it did, at any rate. 
But let us promptly raise our Ebenezers, leaving them all the 
way behind us as monuments of God's goodness and our 
thankfulness. Thus the righteous shall hear of it and be glad ; 
and many, led by our example, shall extol the God of their 
salvation. If we could realize that we receive no good of any 
kind that we have deserved, that all has been of grace, from 
beginning to end, how would thanksgivings break forth from 
our hearts, and shine forth in every act of our lives ! 

So far we have marked in Samuel one prominent point of 
character, that is, he aimed directly at God's glory in all that 
he did. We do not see him seeking ease, nor emoluments, nor 
honors; his grand aim was to honor God. This is a vital 
point in true Godliness ; and leads to works of faith and labors 
of love. Those who have it are always found zealous workers, 
and that, too, from right motives. Let the following fact illus- 
trate this. A dear boy, a Sabbath school scholar, was dying. 
His teacher visited him, and found one of his classmates just 
leaving the chamber as he entered it. It was the only one of 
'the class who did not love Jesus, and the dying youth had 
been urging him to come to the Savior. 

The teacher said, " Oh, I do so want to see H a Chris- 
tian, and then our band will be complete, it will be such a joy 
to think we shall all meet in heaven." 

"Yes it will," said Arthur, his eyes kindling at the thought, 
*' but that is not the best reason, teacher, is it.?" 

"What is the best reason, Arthur.?" I asked. "Why," said 
he, " Jesus will be so glad, because, you know, that was what 
he died for." 

Soon after this dear youth was taken away, but his words 
should be remembered; for they teach us that the highest 
reason for our zeal in God's service, is not our own happi ess, 
nor even the happiness of others, but the glory of God. 

A soul, then, in earnest will speak to sinners in such a way that 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 209 

they must hear him. His whole heart will be in his words. Dr. 
Ide has a good illustration of this, which I present to the reader. 

" A traveler was journeying in the darkness of night along 
ii road that led to a deep and rapid river, which, swollen by sud- 
den rains, was chafing and roaring within its precipitous banks. 
The bridge that crossed the stream had been swept away by 
the torrent, but he knew it not. A man met him, and, after 
inquiring whither he was bound, said to him in an indifferent 
way — 

"Are you aware that the bridge is gone.'*" "No," was the 
answer, "why do you think so.?" " Oh, I heard such a report 
this afternoon, and though I am not certain about it, you had 
better, perhaps, not proceed.' 

Deceived by the hesitating and undecided manner in which 
the information was given, the traveler pushed onward in the 
vray of death. Soon another, meeting him, cried out in con- 
sternation — " Sir, sir, the bridge is gone !" 

"Oh, yes," replied the wayfarer, "some one told me that 
story a little distance back ; but from the careless tone with 
which he told it, I am sure it is only an idle tale." 

"Oh, it is true, it is true!" exclaimed the other. 'I know 
the bridge is gone, for I barely escaped being carried away 
with it myself. Danger is before you, and you must not go 
on." And, in the excitement of his feelings, he grasped him 
by the hands, by the arms, by the clothes, and besought him 
not to rush upon manifest destruction. 

Convinced by the earnest voice, the earnest eyes, the ear- 
nest gestures, the traveler turned back and was saved. The 
intelligence in both cases was the same ; but the manner of its 
conveyance in the one gave it an air of fable, in the other an 
air of truth. 

So it is only through a burning zeal for the salvation of the 
lost — a zeal glowing in the heart, and flashing out in the look, 
and action, and utterance — that the confidence of unbelief can 
be overcome, and the heedless travelers of the broad way come 
to the path of life and happiness. Love is the most potent 
logic; interest and sympathy are the most subduing eloquence. 



2IO THE WORLDS HOPE. 

An earnest desire for the honor of God will overcome cov- 
etousness, and make men liberal in giving to the cause of 
truth. A minister tells us of a case in point. " Many years 
ago, happening to be in South Wales, I made the acquaintance 
of a Welsh gentleman. He was then a landed proprietor, 
living in his own mansion, and in very comfortable circum- 
stances. He had been before carrying on an extensive busi- 
ness in a large town. By the death of a relative he had unex- 
pectedly come into possession of this property. After consider- 
ing whether he should retire from business, he made up his 
mind he should still continue to carry it on, though no longer 
for himself, but for Christ. I could not help being struck 
with the gleesomeness of a holy mind which lighted up his 
countenance when he said: ' I never knew before what real 
happiness was. Formerly, I sought as a master to earn a live- 
lihood for myself, but now I am carrying on the same work as 
diligently as if for myself, and even, more so, but it is now for 
Christ, and every half-penny of profit is handed over to the 
treasury of the Lord, and I feel that the smile of the Savior 
rests upon me.' " 

Samuel is growing old. His two sons, whom he had called 
to his assistance as Judges, did not show the incorruptible in- 
tegrity of their father. One day, to his great surprise, the 
elders of Israel came to him at Ramah, and desired that a 
king should be appointed over them. This request was not 
made from a sudden impulse, but seems to have been the re- 
sult of long deliberation and consultation. They proceed 
with great delicacy in breaking the matter to the prophet ; and 
were careful to let him understand that they had no fault to 
find with his administration. This request was not at all 
pleasing to Samuel. He seems to have felt it, to some extent., 
as a personal reflection upon himself. And yet though he 
thus felt, he says noticing till he could lay the whole matter be- 
fore the Lord. Oh that all God's servants would act thus 
wisely ! One angry word, one bitter taunt, at this time, might- 
have done great mischief. Blessed are the people who carry 
their troubles and their cares to the Lord. 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 211 

The answer that Samuel received was, to let the people have 
such a government as they chose, but to warn them that they 
would involve themselves in trouble and in a very bitter expe- 
rience. The Lord, in a measure, rebuked the personal feel- 
ing which the prophet had upon the subject, by saying, 
" They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me." 
In the days of their highest prosperity they professed to take 
Jehovah as their king; but now they are disposed to turn to an 
arm of flesh. God's words are, " Cursed is he that trusteth in 
man, and maketh flesh his arm ;" and the Israelites felt the truth 
of this in-all its force. Hosea tells us that "the Lord gave them 
a king in His wrath." They wanted to be like the nations 
around them, forgetting that if they got all the glitter, and 
pomp, and parade of majesty, they were very likely to get all its 
despotic and tyrannical abuse also. Heretofore they had been 
under a very mild rule, but unlimited power has a tendency 
to make an oppressor of even a good man. Such power is 
only fit for God himself; he alone makes a good use of it. 

It had been foretold, that a line of kings would rise in Israel. 
It was part of the promise to Abraham, that kings should 
spring from him., and Jacob had predicted that the scepter 
should not depart from Judah till Shiloh came. But, 
though God foreknows what is going to occur, and may fore- 
tell it, this does not imply that he approves it. Samuel drew a 
very graphic picture of what they might expect under the 
reign of a king, and the oppressions to which they were likely 
to be subjected. This was not favorably received, for the peo- 
ple replied, " Nay, but we will have a king over us, that he may 
judge us, and go out before us to battle." The prophet felt 
that he could do no more to dissuade them from their purpose, 
and sorrowfully proceeded to make the necessary arrange- 
ments for the great governmental change. 

With the utmost fairness Samuel proceeded to the nomina- 
tion of the king, so that no one could accuse him of favorit- 
ism. At Mizpeh, the assembled tribes made their choice by 
lot. Saul, the son of Kish, was the individual pointed out. 
It would seem that he had no ambition in that direction ; was 



212 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

afraid to encounter the great responsibility of such a position, 
and would have prefered to remain in the humble and obscure 
condition in which he was born. Accordingly he had 
withdrawn himself from notice, being hid among the baggage. 
Perhaps he thought that if not found, they would go on and 
elect another ; but he was soon discovered and brought before 
the people. All eyes were turned upon him with pride, for 
he had a tall, noble form that towered up above the crowd, and 
a majestic presence. He was saluted with a shout of admi- 
ration. 

This being the beginning of a constitutional monarchy, 
Samuel took great care to secure the liberties of the people. 
He not only addressed them upon the subject, but committed 
the whole matter to writing, which document, we are told, was 
laid up before the Lord. 

Samuel now felt that his work was nearly done, and he- took 
ihe opportunity of a great gathering of the people at Gilgal 
to deliver his farewell address. There was the king elevated 
to power, and having just obtained a great victory on the 
field, the prophet began his address in very touching terms : 
" And now, behold, the king walketh before you, and I am old 
and gray headed ; and behold, my sons are with you, and I 
have walked before you from my childhood unto this day." 
He then appealed to the people as to his integrity as a judge. 
When had he ever taken a bribe, or displayed favoritism in 
the administration of justice .'' The people with one voice tes- 
tified to his strictly honorable and upright conduct. He 
takes a rapid glance at their past history, showing from it God's 
goodness and their ingratitude. He then urges them to a holy 
life, and in great faithfulness said, " But if ye shall still do 
wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both you and your king." 
Then solemnly lifting up his hands to heaven, the thunder 
rolled out in wild crashes, as if the voice of God was giving 
confirmation to his Avords. 

Thus Samuel retired from his public duties as a magistrate, 
but still retained his office as prophet of the Lord. In conse- 
quence of Saul's constant disregard of God's will, Samuel is 



SAMUEL, THE CONSECRATED TO GOD. 21 3 

commanded to anoint David, the son of Jesse, king in his stead. 
The best men have their seasons of timidity and unbelief, and 
Samuel showed, on this occasion, that he was no exception to 
the rule. He was afraid of the wrath of Saul, and very reluc- 
tantly obeyed the command of the Lord. When he came to 
the house of Jesse he first offered a solemn sacrifice, and then 
had the sons of the household brought before him. The 
eldest son, Eliab, was tall in person, and of a noble counte- 
nance, and he thought that he must be the one chosen for 
king ; but the Lord rebuked him in these words, " Look not 
on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, for I 
have refused him ; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for 
man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh 
on the heart." How solemn is this thought ! If kept in 
remembeance, how would it demolish the shams and hypoc- 
risies of the world. 

Seven more sons did Jesse pass before the man of God, but 
none of them were accepted. David, the youngest, was in 
the fields keeping sheep ; he was sent for, and the moment he 
appeared the prophet anointed him king, in the presence of 
his brethren. Samuel died in Ramah, amid the lamentations 
of the whole nation. His was a noble character, the honor of 
God and the good of his fellow-men forming the ruling mo- 
tive of his life. Early did he give his heart to God, and served 
him with untarnished reputation through all his long life. 
When he was taken away every family felt as if a father had 
departed, and tears of honest grief and affection watered his 
last resting place. 

" Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord ; they rest from 
their labors, and their works do follow them." That blessed- 
ness surely rested upon the departure of the righteous 
Samuel. 

" Hush'd was the evening hymn, 

The temple courts were dark 
The lamp was burning dim 

Before the sacred ark ; 
When suddenly a voice divine 

Rang through the silence of the shrine. 



214 THE WORLD S HOPE, 

'The old man, meek and mild, 
The priest of Israel, slept; 
His watch the temple-child, 

The little Levite, kept; 
And what from Eli's sense was seal'd, 
The Lord to Hannah's son reveal'd, 

*' O, give me Samuel's ear! 
The open car, O Lord ! 
Alive and quick to hear 

Each whisper of Thy word ; 
Like him to answer at Thy call, 
And to obey Thee first of all. 

" O, give me Samuel's heart ! 
A lowly heart, that waits 
Where in Thy house Thou art, 

Or watches at thy gates : 
By day and night, a heart that still 
Moves at the breathing of Thy will. 

" O, give me Samuel's mind ! 

A sweet unmurmuring faith, 
Obedient and resigned 

To Thee in life and death ; 
That I may read, with childlike eyes, 

Truths that are hidden from the wise. 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 215 



CHAPTER XV. 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 



The birth-place of those who are to -become great and dis- 
tinguished attracts to it a world-wide attention. Bethlehem 
was but a small and insignificant place in itself; but it was 
honored to be the birth-place of David, the greatest of Israel's 
kings, and of Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 
David's early years were spent in in the humble employment of 
a shepherd. In those days his was an occupation that required 
great courage and activity, to defend the flocks from wild beasts. 
The sheep had often to be driven far from home, amid rugged 
scenery of surpassing grandeur. Sometimes, for months at a 
time, the shepherds would be absent from their homes, left to 
the company of their own thoughts, and communion with God 
through his own glorious works. 

From his very childhood, David had, no doubt, been taught 
the fear of the Lord. The soul-stirring truths which God had 
spoken to his fathers, and the mighty wonders which he had 
wrought out before their eyes, had all been told him by his 
pious father, again and again, and led him early to choose the 
God of his fathers as his God. While attending upon his 
flocks, the thoughts in that lovely psalm beginning with " The 
Lord is my Shepherd," must have often passed through his 
mind. When he had been driven into the caves of the rocky 
mountains by a passing thunder storm, we can imagine that we 
see him raising his voice till it mingled with the roar of the 
mountain torrent, saying : " The voice jof the Lord is upon the 
waters; the God of glory thundereth ; the Lord is upon many 
waters ; the voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness ; the 
Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kedesh." Many an evening 
after he had folded his flocks, he would look to the heavens, 
shining in their starry glory, and sing in a rapture of devout 



2l6 THE world's HOPE. 

gladness, " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament showeth his handiwork." His writings show that 
he was a lover of God's works, and was fond of listening to 
their teaching ; and no doubt he often watched his flocks, and 
sang his song of praise on the very same spot where the angel 
host sang the coming of the world's Redeemer in words wor~ 
thy of their harps, saying, " Glory to God in the highest, and 
on earth peace, good will towards men." 

It has often been remarked how faithfully the Bible depicts 
the faults of the great men whose biographies it records. It 
does not attempt to glorify men, by picturing them as perfect, 
but to glorify the grace of God in saving sinful men, like our- 
selves, from the wrath to come. It has been common for infi- 
dels to point to David's great sins, and to ask sneeringly, if 
that is the man after God's own heart. But when was David 
after God's heart .-^ Not when he was sinning; for then the 
fierce displeasure of the L?ord was kindled against him, and 
severe punishments were let loose from the hand of Jehovah 
against him. If he was a great sinner he was also a great peni- 
tent, and it was when he saw and abhorred his sin as God did 
that he was after God's heart. He and God were of one mind 
about sin, and about the free grace that can alone save from it; 
and so they could walk together. 

Why do those who talk so much about his sins, say not a sin- 
gle word about his repentance ? Why do not they imitate him as 
a penitent, and not as a sinner ? It is because they are not 
honest readers of the Bible, but are only seeking an excuse for 
their sins. Where can we find such deep anguish, such heart- 
rending sorrow for sin, as we see in the religious experience of 
David ? Hark ! How he cries as he sinks into the great 
depths of distress, and the pains of hell get hold upon his tremb- 
ling soul. His tears were his food, night and day; he wets his 
pillow with his tears, and his spirit, smitten by the displeasure 
of the Almighty, cries out, " Pardon my iniquities, for they are 
great." Ah! yes, he is scourged as with a whip of scorpions, 
for his sins; till at last we see the loving hand of God lifting 
him up out of the horrible pit of despair in which he lay, and 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 217 

putting his feet upon a rock, even the Rock of Salvation, put- 
ting a new song in his mouth. 

In the last chapter we have spoken of Samuel as anointing 
David king; but Saul is not yet dead, and the young man goes 
on with his humble duties, assured that God will call him out 
into notice when he wants him. Nor had he long to wait. 
The hour was at hand that was to bring him prominently be- 
fore the whole nation. Saul's army, and that of the Philistines 
are lying opposite to each other in battle array. David's 
brothers are with the army, and his father sends him with pro- 
visions to them. 

We see this youth going towards the camp in his plain shep- 
herd dress. To look upon him as he moves along, who would 
suppose him to be the man chosen of God to deliver Israel, 
and stand before the world in towering greatness down to the 
end of time ? But thus it is in every great revolution in the 
affairs of men. The man for the occasion is raised up to do 
the work of the day ; but he is seldom such a person as men 
in their wisdom would have chosen. Generally taken from 
humble and obscure positions ; simple and unassuming in 
their manners; they yet show in great results, that they have 
been raised up by God to accomplish their special work. 
How clearly has this been seen in the raising up of such men 
as Lincoln and Grant, in the great rebellion. But to proceed 
with our narrative. As David drew near to the army he heard 
the shouting of the hosts, as if a battle was about to begin. 
This quickens his young blood, and with throbbing heart he 
pressed forward. 

Just as he arrives a mighty champion comes forth from the 
army of the enemy, with a bold and insulting defiance to all 
Israel to meet him in single combat. Goliath was a man of 
gigantic proportions and was clad in a complete armor of 
brass. His weapons were of great size, and David was told 
this challenge he had put forth day by day for some time, but 
as yet it remained unanswered. David's cheek burned with 
the blush of shame, th^t this infidel should be so long allowed 
to triumph over the chosen people of God. His patriotism 



2l8 THE world's HOPE 

and his piety were alike shocked. It was having a most 
depressing effect upon the army, and Saul had offered large 
rewards to any one who would meet this bold boaster. David i;^ 
prepared to meet him, not forgetting the great strength of his 
antagonist, but trusting in the God of Israel. His words are 
indicative of a faith beautiful in its simplicity : " The Lord that 
delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of 
the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." 

Saul hears of this daring youth and wishes to see him. Per- 
haps he expected to see one of the largest, bravest, and long- 
tried heroes of his army ; but instead of that there stands be- 
fore him a beardless youth of eighteen years. He seeks to 
turn him from his brave purpose, but the youth remains firm 
in his determination to meet his vaunting foe ; and Saul gives 
his consent in the words, " Go, and the Lord be with thee." 

The moment, big w4th great results, has come. The trumpet 
sounds and its clear notes echo among the hills. A solemn 
silence ensues. Down into the valley steps the man of giant 
strength, clad in glittering armor, and the slender youth, with 
his sling and a few stones from the brook, as his only weapons. 
But with undaunted and calm spirit the young hero goes 
forth, his trust in God, and knowing that " the race is not to 
the swift, nor the battle to the strong." Ah ! little did Jesse know 
the danger in which his darling boy was standing at that mo- 
ment, and what mighty results were depending upon him. 
What were the feelings of his three brothers we cannot tell. 
A shout of contempt comes from the army of the Philistines 
as they look on the fair boy, and contrast him with their great 
champion. 

But see, the two combatants advance ; the anxiety in the 
vast multitude is intense. It is not a moment for words ; and 
strong men, and brave warriors stand almost breathless with 
suspense. The little hero puts a stone in his sling, and swing- 
ing it rapidly around his head, it is propelled through the air 
with unerring aim, and smites the proud boaster dead. He 
fell, like some giant tree of the forest, the vaster its growth 
the more terrible the resounding downfall. Terror-stricken 



219 

the Philistines turn and flee, while the hosts of Israel shout 
forth the joy of their hearts in praise of the young victor. 
The victory is complete, and the future king is favorably intro- 
duced to his people 

Let us remember that we have a spiritual battle to fight with 
a powerful enemy. As in the case of David, the odds are to 
all appearance against us. Our adversary, the devil, is skill- 
ful and practiced in this spiritual warfare. He comes to us 
armed with infernal weapons and hellish darts, and the struggle 
is for eternal life or death. We must go forth to meet him 
with faith as our only weapon, and the Lord of Hosts as 
our only defence. * Thus resisting, he will flee from us. In 
like manner the world is a foe to grace, and we are not able to 
overcome it in our own strength. Some one said to Luther, 
" The world is against you ;" to which he replied, " Then I am 
against the world." Faith can thus overcome the world — faith 
in the blood of Jesus. This blessed gospel was preached in 
paradise, was sealed by the blood of Abel, was rejoiced in by 
patriarchs, preached by prophets and apostles, and died for 
by innumerable maityrs. Let us hold it fast, and it will bring 
us off more than concjuerors over all our foes. 

David lay down the head of the Philistine at the feet of Saul, 
and is called to give an account of his family. That day he 
was introduced into the court and entered upon all the perils 
and dangers of public life. That day he gained much fame, 
much honor, but he got one of heaven's best blessings — a true 
friend. Saul's son, Jonathan, loved him as his own soul. It 
is most delightful to contemplate the sweet, constant friend- 
ship that from that day existed between these young men. It 
was a heartfelt sympathy and ardent love that never wavered, 
but grew in strength day by day, till death separated them 
from each other on earth, and now it is perpetuated in richer 
perfection in heaven. What a blessing to earth true friendship 
is ! It is, indeed, a relic of paradise, come down to us from 
amid the ruins of the fall. Of it Robert Hall says, " It is a 
treasure possessed when it is not employed ; a reserve of 
strength, ready to be called into action when most needed ; a 



220 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

fountain of sweets to which we may continually repair, whose 
waters are inexhaustible." 

There is nothing more touching in poetry or eloquence, than 
David's lament when his friend died. It is a wail of anguish 
that hag come down to us through all these ages, and that still 
starts the sympathetic tear. " How are the mighty fallen in 
the midst of the battle ! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine 
high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan ! 
very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was 
wonderful, passing the love of women." David never forgot 
this dear friend. Long afterwards he takes his son, an afflicted 
youth under his protection, and treated him as his own son. 
" Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness, for Jonathan, 
thy father's sake." 

It is a difficult thing, in this fallen world, to find such true 
friendship. And yet there is a strong craving in our nature 
after it. There is one true friend who will never disappoint 
us ; it is the Lord Jesus, who will never leave nor forsake us, 
and who sticketh closer than a brother. Born for adversity, 
when others forsake us, he comes nearer in the warmth of a 
love that is to live forever. David had no way of repaying the 
love of his friend, except in the person of his son ; so the dear 
Friend that died for us, is now in glory ; his sorrows are for- 
ever ended, but there is one way in which we can show our 
love, that is by showing love to the poor and afflicted among 
his people. These are dear to his heart ; they are as the apple 
of his eye, and when we seek them out, feed them, clothe them, 
and cheer them with our sympathy, Jesus looks down from his 
lofty seat in the heavens well pleased, and says, " Inasmuch as 
ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye 
have done it unto me." 

We come now to consider David as in adversity and passing 
through the deep waters of affliction. After the splendid 
achievement of the overthrow of the champion of the Philis- 
tines, he is taken into Saul's household, as one of his chief 
captains. This strange man professed great friendship for 
him, but it was not of long continuance. He was one of those 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 22T 

weak, passionate, impulsive characters, who are warm friends 
or bitter enemies, and may be both in the same day. A warm, 
ardent temperament, joined to a weak mind and an ambitious 
spirit, makes a hard case to live at peace with ; and such was 
Saul. A circumstance occurs that awakens against David his 
rancorous hate. When returning from the battle-field, and 
passing through the cities, the army was received with shouts 
of welcome by the populace. Far and wide, from mouth to 
mouth, had spread the news of the great victory. Bands of 
patriotic women met them with songs of gladness, the burden 
of which was, " Saul has slain his thousands, but David his 
tens of thousands." Unfortunate words! They stir to its 
depths all the malignity and hate, and murderous revenge of 
his nature ; and from that time till his death he became the 
deadly enemy of the young hero. Repeatedly he attempts his 
life in a manner most sneaking and cowardly. David has to 
flee from the court, and can find no rest from his inveterate 
enemy anywhere. Go where he will he is pursued and at- 
tacked. Well may it be said, " Jealousy is cruel as the grave." 
Alas ! how uncertain are earthly honors. The great deliv- 
erer of Israel, the man who but lately stood highest in favor at 
court and with the people, has now to flee from the habitations 
of men as if he were a criminal, and has to hide himself in 
holes and caves of the earth. How does he stand these trials.? 
For the most part of his time his trust is in God, and he tri- 
umphs over his trials. At other times he sinks into unworthy 
expedients to get out of his troubles, and giving way to dark 
thoughts and unbelieving fears, says, " 1 shall one day perish 
by the hand of my enemy."' This language was unworthy of 
one for whom God had done so much, and who knew so well 
the faithfulness of the promises. But thus it is with us all. 
There is a constant struggle going on, the flesh pulling one way, 
the spirit of truth the other; now faith prevailing, and then 
unbelief, till we seem like two different persons at different 
times, according to the influence prevailing. Alas ! How 
sinful is this state of things, and how much do we need the 
services of the Great Advocate to plead for us. 



222 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

During his exile a circumstance occurs that shows the for- 
giving spirit of David. Saul, in chasing him among the moun- 
tains, has gone into a cave and fallen asleep. In that state 
David found him, and had it in his power to take his life. To 
this he was tempted by many strong inducements ; but he 
nobly resisted them all, and only cut off a portion of his ene- 
my's garment that he might know that he had been in his 
power. 

The effect of this act of forbearance upon Saul was, for a 
time, most wonderful. His hard heart was touched ; he melted 
into tears ; the generous kindness of the youth he had so much 
injured smote his soul with regret for the past, and he prom- 
ised amendment for the future. But no confidence could be 
put in his promises. From impulsive natures like his, a sud- 
den outbreak of good feeling sometimes shows itself like sparks 
of fire struck out of the cold, hard flint, but it is soon gone 
and their habitual state of mind returns again. Thus it was 
with Saul. His persecutions soon become as relentless as ever. 
But his last hour comes. He enters his last battle, in which 
all goes against him. His three sons are slain, the day is lost, 
and to avoid the disgrace of being taken, this strange child of 
passion kills himself with his own sword. 

And now a change takes place with the son of Jesse. His 
wanderings for the present are over, and the bright sun of 
prosperity, coming from under the cloud, shines upon his 
head. I believe it was Luther who said that always before 
being called to perform any high and honorable work for God 
he was made to pass through severe afflictions of some kind. 
David had long known trouble, now he comes torth from the 
hiding-place of the cave to the throne and the crown. After 
twelve years of trouble and incessant persecution, he is called 
by the voice of the people to the high position of Israel's king. 

He was now in the full vigor of young manhood, and few 
kings have ever mounted the throne with richer endowments, 
both spiritual and physical. Long accustomed to toil and 
danger, the earth for his bed and the heavens for his covering, 
he is not likely to let the affairs of the nation be neglected 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET 223 

through effeminate habits, as many have done. He has been 
taught in a stern school the instability of all earthy things, and 
that God is the sovereign Ruler among the nations of the earth. 

When established in power, the first thing he did was to 
drive out a small remnant of the Canaanites that were still 
in the land. The Jebusites had possession of a city which 
they considered impregnable, and insultingly defied David to 
take it. He did take it, and after repairing the fort and en- 
larging the wall he made it the capital of his kingdom. This 
was Jerusalem, though then called the city of David. It is 
the oldest existing city in the world, and no other has such 
stirring and solemn memories connected with it. It has been 
five times taken in bloody conflict, and twice has it been lev- 
eled to the ground. Here he erected for himself a palace, 
and when it was completed it was dedicated by that song of 
praise which we find in the thirtieth Psalm, " O Lord, thou hast 
brought up my soul from the grave ; thou hast kept me alive 
that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the Lord, O 
ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his 
holiness. For his anger endureth but a moment ; in his favor 
is life ; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the 
morning." 

What a glorious hope is that of the Christian ! His troubles 
shall soon be ended, and a crown and throne far more splen- 
did than David's shall be his. He shall have a palace, too, 
not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens. O what a 
glorious, sweet, lovely home ! Read a description of the happy 
condition of those that live there, and long for the hour that 
shall bid you enter its joys. "They shall hunger no more, 
nor thirst any more, nor shall the sun light on them, nor any 
heat, for the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall 
feed them, and lead them to living fountains of water.'* 
What a sweet promise is that which is given us: "God shall 
wipe away all tears from their eyes." This hope, nay, this 
blessed certainty, may well fill us with joy unspeakable, even in 
a world which sin has made a vale of tears. 

David now began to make preparation for bringing the ark 



224 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

of God to Jerusalem. It was a solemn procession and had a 
most important meaning. It was God taking up his abode 
among them. And as the ark moved on through the assem- 
bled thousands, amid shouts of joy and the sounding of trumpets, 
we are reminded of what happened ages after, when God man- 
ifested in the flesh walked in those same streets amid the 
waving of palm branches, and cries of " Hosanna to the son 
of David." As the procession came up the slope of Mount 
Zion, the singers sang the sixty-eighth Psalm. " This is the 
hill which God desireth to dwell in ; yea, the Lord will dwell 
m it forever." And when it arrived at the resting-place of the 
ark, the singers broke out into that sublime dialogue in the 
twenty-fourth Psalm. " Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; and 
be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors ; the king of glory shall 
come in. Who is this king of glory 7 The Lord of hosts ; 
he is the king of glory." 

About this time David began to cherish in his heart a strong 
desire to build a temple to the Lord. At this time his mind 
seems to have been in a most spiritual state. His faith seems 
to have grown stronger by the trials through which it had 
passed, just as the oak grows all the stronger for the storms 
that beat upon it. It was not God's design that he should 
build his house, that honor being reserved for his son ; but he 
was told that in as far as it was in his heart to do it, the Lord 
accepted the will for the deed. 

This is an encouraging principle of the Divine government ; 
•especially so to those sincere and deeply pious souls who, 
thinking of all that God has done for them, never feel as if 
they could do enough for him. They plan, in the depth of 
their loving hearts, all manner of ways by which they may 
honor his name and promote his cause ; but through bodily 
infirmity, or the loss of worldly property, or obstacles thrown 
in their way by agents of evil, they are disappointed ; and their 
throbbing hearts need the comfort of the Lord's words to Da- 
vid, " Thou didst well that it was in thine heart." 

When the holy and devoted Rev. Samuel Pearce, was on his 
death-bed, a young friend of his just about to start for India 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 225 

as a missionary, came to bid him farewell. It was a most 
affecting occasion to both, as they were well assured they should 
never meet again on earth. The parting was most tender, but 
brightened by the certainty of a joyful meeting in glory. 

But strange to say, the young missionary was the first to die. 
Though in perfect health at the time of sailing, he sickened 
and died before reaching the dark land of heathenism where 
he had hoped to do so much for the Lord. Soon after Pearce 
died, and Andrew Fuller spe?.ks of the surprise with which 
these happy souls would meet in the blessed land. He repre- 
sented Pearce as saying, "I thought that by this time you were 
working for Jesus in India." "That was my hope and inten- 
tion," the missionary replies," but my dear Lord had other 
designs. He called me away in the midst of my plans and 
projects of usefulness, and here I am, an unworthy inhabitant 
of the heavenly Canaan." While they are discussing this mat- 
ter, they are joined by a spirit high in glory, who upon learn- 
ing the subject of their discussion says, " This reminds me of 
my experience when on earth. It was strongly in my heart to- 
build a temple to God's glory. I was ready to make any sac- 
rifice to accomplish this object ; but my Lord told me that 
high honor was not to be mine, but that as far as it was in my 
heart to do the work, the wish was graciously accepted as if 
the work had been done." This last speaker was David, and 
as he concludes he tunes his harp to a lofty song of praise in 
honor of Him who doeth all things well. I have given this 
beautiful conception of Fuller from memory, giving his 
thoughts but not his words. 

Here is a young man who, with much toil and self-denial, 
goes through a long course of training for preaching the good 
news. But when ready, he is taken away by death, after 
preaching but a few months, or it may be but a few sermons. 
The talented author of the " Course of Time," was only al- 
lowed to preach once or twice, before being called to his 
eternal home. Is all that preparation to be lost } By no 
means. God recognizes what was in the hearts of his young 
servants to do for him, as if it was done; and he has higher 



226 THE world's HOPE. 

serv.ee for them to do in other departments of his vast do- 
minions, where their talents and knowledge may find abundant 
scope. 

So, dear child of God, take comfort, when unable to give to 
the Savior's cause as you would like. Though so poor as to 
drop a mite into the Lord's treasury, your Lord sees thousands 
of dollars in your heart ; and in the great day of account, he 
may say of you, before an assembled world, that you have 
given more than all the others of your associates, in giving 
that small sum, of which you were almost ashamed. " If there 
be first a willing mind, it is accepted ; not according to what 
he hath not, but according to what he hath." , 

And to the invalid, laid aside from active work in the Lord's 
vineyard, this subject is full of comfort. His plan of active 
labors are all broken off, cut short of accomplishment. He had 
it in his heart to do so much, and now can do so little. His 
unfinished designs, like broken columns, stand up around him, 
and, gazing at them with tearful eyes, he cries, * Why is it 
thus.'*" Ah! my brother, God knows what is in your heart, 
and approves it well ; but he wants to lay you aside from the 
busy rush of life, from the conflicting passions and strifes of 
earth, that you may find your all in God himself. He wants 
to make you look into the grave of your disappointed hopes, 
your blighted expectations, that high above, the perishing and 
mutable things of time, you may learn to drink in immortal 
life from your Savior's love. There he tells thee the tree of 
life grows; and there only are eyes that tears never dim, 
hearts beating with rapture that disappointment never turns to 
sorrow, and a perfection of life that is to know no death. You 
go into the crowded, though silent city' of the dead, and you 
see sweet flowers growing over the graves of the dead, — 
flowers born of corruption, and watered with tears, and fanned 
with sighs. So, over the grave of all your plans, God will 
cause to grow the fair flowers of the heavenly graces that are 
to bloom forever in immortal beauty in the paradise of God. 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 227 

" His purposes shall ripen fast, 
Unfolding every hour, 
The bud may have a bitter taste, 
But sweet vk^ill be the flower." 

So far it has been most pleasant and delightful to watch the 
career of David. It is true that we have not seen in him a 
perfect character, for that does not belong to sinful man ; even 
the bright sun has his spots ; but, for the most part, our hearts 
have glowed with admiration of the conduct of Jesse's son. 
Prosperity does not seem to have spoiled him, and out of the 
furnace of fiery trial he comes forth refined. We have fol- 
lowed him up to a pinnacle where, if he falls at all, the fall 
must be very great. And, alas! fall he did, or, rather, cast 
himself down headlong. Oh, who could have expected this? 
The sudden change fills us with horror. One moment of 
temptation and we look upon David the adulterer and the 
murderer ! We can scarcely believe our eyes or our ears, and 
are ready to ask, can it be the same person ? Alas ! it is but 
too true. How are the mighty fallen ! 

In reading the account of David's fall, we can enter into the 
feelings of Bishop Hall ; " With what unwillingness, with what 
fear do I look upon the miscarriage of the man after God's 
own heart ! Oh, holy prophet, who can promise himself to 
stand, when he sees thee fallen, and maimed with the fall.^ 
Let profane eyes behold thee contentedly, as a pattern, as an 
excuse for sinning ; I shall never look upon thee but through 
tears, as a woful spectacle of human infirmity." 

There is generally a long preparatory process going on, un- 
known to the world, before professing Christians fall into out- 
ward sin, in this way. Gradually there is a decline of spirit- 
uality of mind ; prayer is neglected ; the mind gets filled with 
worldly thoughts and feelings ; carnal desire slowly but surely 
gains the ascendancy ; and a spirit of proud self-sufficiency 
takes possession of the soul. Then, when all the elements of 
evil are thus prepared the great temptation is presented, and 
the fall comes. It seems to be sudden, but is not really so. 
There was a long prelude of evil. 



228 THE world's HOPE. 

Thus was it with David. His army is in the field against 
the Ammonites. Instead of staying at home to enjoy the kix- 
uries of his splendid palace, he should have been fighting the 
Lord's battles. Out of the path of duty, we are on Satan's 
ground, and liable to be attacked. We put ourselves into the 
way of temptation. The king is walking in the evening upon 
the roof of his house, when he saw Bathsheba, a beautiful 
woman, the wife of a brave soldier, now away fighting his bat- 
tles, engaged in bathing herself. A pure delicacy should have 
led him to turn away, but he does not ; and corrupt thoughts 
lead to vile actions. He becomes an adulterer, and then, to 
hide the shame of the transaction, resorts to the meanest plans 
to accomplish the death of the brave captain, Uriah, whom he 
had so greatly injured already. He effects this dark and 
horrid design, and stains his soul with the blood of murder. 

Such is the progress of sin. It is said to be like the letting 
out of water; first a small, thread-like stream, trickling 
through the embankment, and then a roaring, dashing, irre- 
sistible torrent, leaving behind a track of desolation and 
death. The light of God is first resisted, then hated, then 
forcibly put out of the soul ; till the poor, unhappy spirit 
gropes about in a darkness that may be felt. Conscience be- 
coming stupefied and seared, for the time being, lays by its 
functions ; and all restraint being removed, the miserable 
sinner rushes on, with increased velocity, down the road to 
eternal death. 

It is a sad evidence of the blinding effects of sin, that 
months roll on, and there is no awakening of the king to re- 
pentance — no bitter throes of remorse in the soul of this 
sinful man.' There seems to have been no dread of the ven- 
geance of heaven ; if the displeasure of man could be averted 
he was well content. It seemed as if all sense of right and 
wrong was dead within him ; but it was not so. He was 
blinded, infatuated, and his conscience seared by sin. And 
this state of things would have continued forever, had it not 
been for God's mighty grace. 

It was a kind providence that a faithful man of God was still 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 229 

left in Israel, who did not fear kings nor kingly power, in the 
exercise of his duty. The fearless Nathan goes and tells David 
his sin to his face. He begins by a parable of a rich man, who 
had flocks and herds in great abundance ; but when he wanted 
to make a feast for a guest, instead of taking his own, he took 
the one ewe lamb of a poor man. The king's brow grows 
dark with wrath. Such is the blinding effects of sin that even 
now he does not see his own great transgression, but thun- 
dered out, "The man that hath done this thing shall surely 
die; and he shall restore the lamb four-fold, because he did 
this thing, and had no pity." Ah! how ready are sinners to 
see the fault of others, but blind as bats to their own. He is 
like the drunkard, that thinks the giddy and unsteady motion 
that he feels is in others, and in things around him, not in 
himself. To all of us there can be no more important warn- 
ing than to beware lest we be hardened through the deceitfuL 
ness of sin. 

Like a bolt of lightning the words of Nathan smote down 
the offender: "Thou art the man." Under the circumstances 
we cannot conceive of four more powerful words. It is a 
winged sentence coming from the throne of God, and the soul 
of David heaves as if volcanic fires had been kindled within 
him. As Paul's heart was changed by the sudden light thar 
gleamed from heaven and struck him to the ground, so was 
the king of Israel all broken down by the bolt of truth that 
had been aimed so well ; and he cries out, " I have sinned against 
the Lord." The sentence of punishment was then pro- 
nounced. The sword was not to depart from his house, and 
bitter heart troubles were to spring up out of his own house- 
hold. He now saw his sin in all its horrid loathsomeness. 
Hour after hour and day after day did he ponder upon his 
guilt. He wanders about his palace in broken-hearted an- 
guish, and by night he wee his pillow with tears. If ever 
there was a true penitent he was the man. The fifty-first 
Psalm was composed at this time by him, and gives us an in- 
sight into the state of his- heart. "Hide thy face from my 
5ins» and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean 



230 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

heart, oh God ; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me 
not away from thy presence ; and take not thy Holy Spirit 
from me." 

How many broken hearts have been comforted as they 
poured out their cries for mercy in the words of this Psahn. 
And oh how gracious is our God. He sends him a message 
of mercy. " The Lord hath put away thy sin ; thou shalt not 
die." Pardon for all sin, for the vilest transgressors, is the 
law of God's kingdom of grace. The blood of Jesus cleans- 
eth from all sin. There is but one sin that cannot be par- 
doned, and that is a persistent rejection of Christ till life's last 
moment. Unbelief is a damning sin. It rejects heaven's only 
remedy, a certain cure for the evil of sin ; and leaves nothing 
before the soul but a fearful looking-for of judgment, and 
fiery indignation. 

A visitor among the poor in London, came in contact with 
a wretched man who repulsed every attempt to do him good. 
But the mother of this savage ruffian cried out from an inner 
room, " Does your book tell of the blood that cleanseth 
from all sin.?" Going to her bedside, he said, "My poor 
friend, what do you want to know of the blood that cleanseth 
from all sin ?" With great energy she replied, " Man, I am 
•dying ! I am going to stand before God. I have been a 
very wicked woman all my life. But once I stopped at the 
door of a church, and one word I can never forget. Oh, if I 
could hear it now! It was something about the blood that 
cleanseth from all sin." 

The visitor read her the words from the New Testament ; 
her soul grasped them by faith, and she died in assurance of 
pardon. Her son also was saved by the same glorious truth. 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 23I 



CHAPTER XVI. 
DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. [Continued.] 

David is forgiven, but that is not to avert the effect of his 
sin in bringing punishment. As we showed in the chapter on 
Jacob, there is a great difference between grace and govern- 
ment. God's grace pardons David, freely, fully pardons him ; 
but the Divine government must make an example of his sin. 
Thus while he is rejoicing in the sweet voice of grace that tells 
him of pardon, he feels the strokes of the rod of government 
fall heavy and fast upon his head. 

He was a very fond father, and the blows fell upon the most 
tender part of his nature. Take Bishop Sanderson's descrip- 
tion of his troubles. " As Nathan foretold to him, so a world 
of mischief and misery fell out to him from this one presump- 
tuous act. His daughter was defiled by her brother; that 
brother was slain by another brother; a strong conspiracy was 
raised against him by his own son ; his concubines were openly 
defiled by the same son ; himself afflicted by the untimely 
death of that son, who vvas his darling; reviled and cursed to 
his face by a base, unworthy companion, besides many other 
troubles, affronts and vexations." 

Of all his troubles, the revolt and death of Absalom was the 
most severely felt. That abandoned youth put. himself at the 
head of a strong faction, drove his father from Jerusalem, and 
again made him a fugitive on the face of the earth. When 
Joab marshaled his army and went forth to crush this vile, un- 
natural rebellion, the express orders of the king to his general 
were, "Beware that none touch the young man, Absalom." 
This son, in whose beautiful body dwelt a fearfully corrupt 
soul, had heaped upon the head of his father every kind of 
insult, public and private ; and yet, the loving heart of the 



232 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

parent clings to him, and would avert from him his deserved 
doom. The stern and brave general, however, paid no atten- 
tion to this injunction ; but finding him, caught him by the hair 
in the branches of a tree, killed him with his own hand. 

While the battle is raging, David sits between the gates of 
the city, looking with great anxiety for intelligence from the 
scene of action ; and as one after another came in hot haste 
to tell of victory, his first question is, " Is the young man Ab- 
salom safe.^" And when told that he was slain, the agony of 
his soul breaks out in one of the most pathetic wails of distress 
ever heard : " He was much moved, and went up to the 
chamber over the gate, and wept ; and as he went, thus he said : 
" O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom ; would God I 
had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son." If such was 
the depth of love felt by an earthly father, how great must be 
the love of the heavenly Father to his offending children. He 
gave his son to die for us, and when that last gift of his love 
is rejected, and the righteous stroke of death is about to fall, 
he cries out, " O how can I give thee up !" 

And now for a short time there' comes a lull in the storm of 
adversity, a calm day of repose after the troubles through 
which he had passed. The deranged country is once more at 
peace, and a return of prosperity begins to obliterate the 
traces of war. David was comforted, and it is feared that he 
became lifted up with pride, for he fell into the last great error 
of his reign. I refer to his numbering of the people. At first 
sight this may seem but a small offence, but from the severity 
of the punishment that was inflicted, it was not so regarded 
in God's eyes. Let us try to consider in what his sin con- 
sisted. 

It has been thought by some that the reason why the king 
wished this census taken was from a vain-glorious pride of 
heart as to the number of subjects over which he ruled. There 
may have been something of this ; but 1 have no doubt that 
the cause was unbelief of heart, or distrust of God. He ought 
to have known that the strength or greatness of a nation is 
not in the number of its population, or the vastness of its army, 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 2^^ 

but in the blessing of the Most High God. It was not that 
the numbering of the people was in itself sin; for under some 
circumstances that might be a duty ; but it was the dark dis- 
trust of God that lay at the bottom of this matter that brought 
down upon him the displeasure of heaven. He is remonstrated 
with by Joab, but heeds it not. Nine months are taken up in 
this work, during which time his heart remains insensible to 
his folly. But when the numbers are put into his hand he 
awakes to the knowledge of the evil he has done. The prophet 
of God is sent to rebuke him and announce his punishment. 
He has his choice of three years of famine, three months of 
defeat by his enemies, or three days of pestilence in the land. 

The choice which the king made was a wise one. He chose 
pestilence, as that came directly from the hand of the Lord, and 
was something to which he would be as much exposed as the 
poorest of his subjects. " Let us fall now into the hand of the 
Lord ; for his mercies are great, and let us not fall into the 
hand of man." An angel was employed to inflict the punish- 
ment that had been threatened. This minister of Divine 
displeasure appeared to David and bis elders. His aspect 
was one well calculated to excite awe." He stood between 
the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand, 
stretched out over Jerusalem." The king in great distress of 
soul, cast himself upon the ground, pleading for the life of his 
people. He offers himself as a sacrifice : " So I have sinned, 
and have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they 
done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against 
my father's house." 

Praying breath was never spent in vain ; his supplications 
were heard, the city is spared at his request, and the Lord said 
to the destroying angel, " It is enough ; stay now thy hand." 
An altar was built upon that spot and grateful sacrifices offered 
up to the hearer of prayer. In all this matter David appears 
as a sincere penitent. He mourned before God on account of 
his sin ; he sent up his earnest cry for mercy ; he was more 
ready to condemn himself than others, and was willing to bear 
alone the result of his sins. In short, from this time forth 



«34 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

his life flows on in one consistent stream of works of faith and 
labors of love. 

As a prophet, how clearly he spoke of the coming of Christ. 
Jesus and his Apostles often appealed to the Psalms which 
spoke of the coming Messiah as being the eternal Son of God, 
the Great High Priest, the imparter of the Holy Spirit and the 
resurrection from the dead. In the Psalms the most minute 
particulars of our Lord's sufferings are given by the spirit of 
prophecy. His being betrayed by one of his own chosen 
band, the casting lots for his raiment, and the giving him vin- 
egar to drink on the cross. 

This book of Psalms has been a most blessed legacy to the 
church of God. How sublimely does it describe the attri- 
butes of God, especially his mercy. The penitent can here 
find the most fit language of confession ; when blessings are 
received the thankful soul can here find glowing words of 
praise ; and when the pardoned sinner would break out into a 
song of highest rapture he will find it in the Psalms. These 
songs are everywhere applicable and appropriate ; by land and 
by sea, in joy or sorrow, in palaces or prisons, for they are the 
sincere out-gushmg of a human heart in all the circumstances 
in which our common humanity is placed. A sweet simplicity 
of style is united to great sublimity of thought, so that they 
are suited for the learned and the unlearned alike. In short, 
there are no utterances among all the prophets so dear to pious 
minds as these sweet songs. At one time the Psalmist carries 
us among the works of God, to fill us with rapture and awe ; 
" The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament 
showeth his handiwork." Sometimes he. breaks oyt in a rap- 
ture of praise almost too great for words. "Sing unto the 
Lord a new song; for his right hand and his holy arm have 
gotten him the victory." And in a transport of love he calls 
upon all nature to help him to praise God ; the trees, the izrav 
rocks, the lofty mountains : " Let the sea roar, and the fullness 
thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." 

David now began to feel the effect of age and infirmity 
creeping upon him. He has yet much to do, and but little 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 235 

time in which to do it. Though his bodily powers begin to 
fail, his strong mind retains all its powers. He assembles to- 
gether the princes, the captains of the army, and leading men 
of the nation, and addressed them with great solemnity and 
power in regard to establishing the worship of God. He spoke 
of his ardent desire to build a house for the Son, and of the 
revelation he had received that that work was to be performed 
by Solomon, his son. Then turning to that son, he charged 
him in the presence of them all, to give himself to this matter 
with honesty of purpose. He also gave to his son an exact 
description of the temple as it had been delivered to him from 
heaven, and contributed, from his own resources, great wealth 
to be devoted to this object. 

This liberal example had a good effect upon the people ; 
their contributions poured in with the greatest readiness, as if 
they were delighted to aid so good a work. They gave not 
grudgingly, but of a ready mind. The aged king was delighted 
with this zeal for the Lord's cause, and broke out, before them 
all, in warm and devout acknowledgment to God for so dis- 
posing their hearts, and in earnest prayer for Solomon's reign. 
Then the whole congregation worshiped together; sacrifices 
were offered to God, and David resigned his regal authority to 
Solomon, who was anointed king in his stead. 

But it is the lot of the greatest of earth's sons to die. Those 
who ruled millions with a word, and on whose will the fate of 
nations hung suspended, must fall before the King of Terrors. 
So, great warrior and mighty monarch as David had been, the 
time came when he must die. We gather around his dying 
bed, and listen eagerly to hear his las^ words. That hand, once 
so strong to \<,neld the implements of war, is now palsied with 
age, and the cares of many years have plowed deep furrows 
upon his face. 

What are the subjects upon which his mind dwells in this 
solemn hour.? Is he proudly Recalling the time when as a 
shepherd boy he came, all unknown, from the plains ot Bethle- 
hem, and smote the proud and boastful Philistine, and turned 
the whole fortunes of the day in favor of his people ? Is he 



236 THE world's hope. 

thinking of the shout of joy that greeted him from a whole 
nation when he ascended the throne, and of the long list of 
brilliant victories by which he made that throne so secure? 
Ah ' no : these look but small things when viewed from a 
death-bed. Other thoughts, more noble and suitable, are fill- 
ing his soul. The sovereignty of God, the comforts of the 
Divine covenant, so full and sure, and the unchangeableness of 
Jehovah's love, are the vastly important themes upon which 
his mind dwells. His dying words are, " Although my house 
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting 
covenant, ordered in all things and sure ; for this is all my 
salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." 

We here notice his touching confession in regard to his fam- 
ily : 'Although my house be not so with God." We have 
already seen that his youth was full of devotedness to God, and 
the years of adversity that followed his entering upon public 
life, seem to have driven him nearer to God. The unfaithful- 
ness of his fellow-men made him think more of God's faith- 
fulness, and the persecution of Saul only made him cling more 
firmly to the covenant promises of his Divine Friend in heaven, 
who knew all that was in his heart. 

But the full cup of prosperity was more than he could bear. 
When lifted up upon the high eminences of life he became 
high-minded and fell into the snare of the devil. As a head 
of a family he was destituted of all government. Foolishly 
fond of his children, he let them have their own way. The 
result was what might have been expected ; spoiled by indul- 
gence, they embroiled him and his kingdom in trouble and 
disgrace. 

It is a sad sign of how great is the depravity of our nature 
when even good men fall into sin. After all that grace has 
done for them, after such a marvelous change has been wrought 
by the Holy Spirit, after a new life has been implanted, a life 
that is spiritual, imperishable, progressive, and that is to grow 
up to a glory and heavenly beauty of which we can form no 
proper conception ; yet so strong are the remains of sin, that 
it occasionally breaks out in a way that astonishes the world 



DAVID, THE POYAL PROPHET. 237 

If God's mighty grace were to leave the best of men to himself 
for one moment ; if proud, self-righteous thoughts gain the 
ascendancy ; if the fascination of sin gets its entanglements 
around him, he must fall into the snare of the enemy. Upon 
no prop can we lean with safety but Christ's love ; no safe 
refuge but in his grace. 

When good men fall into sin they are awakened to penitence. 
While the sinner goes on growing worse and worse, the erring 
child of God is awakened to a knowledge of his guilt that 
makes him condemn himself more than his friends have done. 
I on6e knew a minister who in an hour of sudden temptation 
fell into sin. He was in awful anguish of soul. His old 
friends were denouncing him, the newspapers were blaming 
him, the ungodly were rejoicing in his downfall, and calling him 
by the vilest of names, but none of them spoke so much against 
him as he did against himself. It was heart-rending to witness 
his agony of soul under the rebukes of conscience and the con- 
victions of the Holy Spirit. I think that if the most hardened sin- 
ner had been in that man's company for an hour he would have 
had a strong conviction that though he had sinned greatly, ])e 
was still a son of God. Yes, such an one may wander far, but 
grace never gives him up ; it keeps him in view go where he 
may, and in some favorable opportunity flashes conviction over 
his soul, producing a repentance that needs not to be repented 
of. Some messenger is sent, whose words pierce his soul like 
fire-tipped arrows, singling him out from the whole world, with 
" Thou art the man." 

xA.fter this return to God is brought about by afflictions, the 
soul is swept up by some terrible tempest, that seems to crush 
it down, as in some dark night the sturdy tree of the forest is 
laid low. The furnace is heated, but God's eye keeps watch 
that his child shall not be consumed, but only purified. 

Peter and Judas both sinned against Jesus. Peter was a 
real Christian, and showed it by going out and weeping bit- 
terly ; Judas was only a mere professor, and he showed it by 
going from bad to worse, and rushing uncalled into eternity, 
with the blood of murder upon his soul. 



238 THE world's hope. 

David in his dying moments had but one truth to which he 
could cling; God's covenant of grac'e through Jesus. The 
religion that saves the soul has always been essentially the 
same in all ages. From the fall downwards the only hope of 
the sinner has been the blood of the covenant. It begins with 
the promise of a Savior in the garden of Eden, and ever since 
has been saving lost souls. From the garden of Eden to the 
garden of Gethsemane, and up to Calvary, it has uttered but 
one voice, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remis- 
sion of sins." 

It is called by the king of Israel an " everlasting covenant." 
It is so in its conception in the Divine mind. The plan of 
salvation was no 7iew idea to Jehovah to meet an unexpected 
difficulty. Long before this world was swung out into space 
from the Creator's hand, long before he made those orbs of 
light that sparkle in the canopy of heaven, long before the 
comet was sent forth to wander through space, or when space 
was shoreless or unborn, this wonderful plan of mercy was in 
God's thoughts. The Holy Trinity are represented as in con- 
sultation devising means for man's redemption. But this is 
only in accommodation to our weakness of comprehension. 
Infinite wisdom needs no deliberation. With God there is no 
weighing of measures, no balancing of expedients, no examin- 
ation of different plans. Before his Omniscient eye all things 
stand unveiled in their truest order and in their fittest arraign- 
ment ; the means, the agency and the end are all before him 
from all eternity ; he cannot be taken by surprise, nor does he 
need to change his plans to meet unexpected emergencies. 

This covenant is everlasting in its saying results. The be- 
liever is not saved for a few years, but for ever and ever. Once 
in Christ by a living faith, he can no more be lost than his 
Great Substitute can be lost. The Savior's own words are, 
"They shall never perish." All hell, and all the elements of 
evil on earth may unite against him, but he shall never perish. 
Like David and like Peter, the enemy may seem to have him 
in his power for a season, but the Great Advocate is pleading 
for him, and he can never perish. And when the dangers of 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 239 

earth are over, and the ages of eternity roll on, they shall all 
unite who have ever known this grace to sing His praises who 
wrought out this everlasting salvation. 

Another noticeable point in the description of this covenant 
is, "well ordered in all things." It is just suitable to the case 
of sinners. Man is a guilty being, and often feels the terror of 
this through all the powers of his soul. When the Spirit of 
God makes him feel the strictness of the holy law, and its 
awful curses thickening and darkening around his soul ; to 
hear that this law has been vindicated and the claims of justice 
satisfied by the death of Jesus, gives peace and assurance of 
acceptance. To trust in a man's own good deeds is seen by 
the enlightened mind to be the highest folly. To suppose that 
the performance of a few good deeds, even allowing them to 
be good, could cancel a lifetime of sin is a view of God's char- 
acter at once the most foolish and pernicious. Here is a crim- 
inal before a court, accused of stealing his neighbor's goods. 
What plea does he make.? W^hy this: that he has obeyed far 
more laws than he has broken, that he had only stolen once or 
twice, but had been honest all the rest of his life. How would 
such a plea look in the eyes of the judge and jury ? They 
would treat it with scorn. And men of intelligence in other 
things are found trusting in such a hope between God and 
their souls. 

But surely present obedience can never make up for past dis- 
obedience ; for if we obeyed perfectly all our lives we would 
only be doing our duty. If we failed in one act, that is sin, 
and that one sin unpardoned will ruin the soul forever. And 
it cannot be pardoned by setting over against it some duty or 
duties well performed. You can never recall a sin, nor blot it 
out of God's record by anything you can do. The blood of 
Jesus alone can blot out sin, all sin, sin to the very uttermost 
extent of sinning. And to refuse to recognize this truth, is to 
add to the sin of breaking God's holy law, the yet greater sin 
of rejecting the Savior. You need pardon, in Him you have 
it rich and free. You need a perfect righteousness, and here 
^t is, more pure and spotless than an angel. You need a title 



240 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

to heaven, and here it is, signed and sealed by the Judge. 
But David said this covenant was sure. Well, this is more 
than can be said of earthly things, of which men now make so 
much. When a few years have gone what a change do they 
leave behind them, in blighted hopes, disappointed expecta- 
tions, and vacant chairs at family gatherings. A father of a 
large home circle had been long absent ; but the day of his 
expected arrival had at last come. Every heart was joyful, 
every eye was bright with love. The very hour fixed for the 
joyful meeting has come, and the tea-table waits the happy 
throng that were to gather around it. Meanwhile the father is 
coming rushing, on in the cars, with a happy heart. The last 
entry which he had made in his journal was, " Now for home." 
But as he nears the place there is a crash, a wild shriek from 
hundreds of voices, and that loving father lies dead. The 
hopes of that family are gone out in darkness. Like thousands, 
they have found that the things of earth are not sure. 

" I thought that the course of the pilgrim to heaven 

Would be bright as the summer, and glad as the mom ; 
Thou showedst me the path, it was dark and uneven, 
All rugged with rock, and all tangled with thorn. 

" I dreamt of celestial rewards and renown, 

I grasped at the triumph which blesses the brave ; 
I asked for the palm-branch, the robe, and the crown, 
I asked — and Thou showeist me a Cross and a Grave." 

All that can be said about the uncertainty of earthly things 
is true, but should be used to draw us to the greater truth to 
which David clung, the sureness of every thing about the cove- 
nant of redemption. Its doctrine of justification by faith is 
sure ; its precious promises are sure ; its peace and unspeaka- 
ble joys here are sure ; and the unending bliss which it fixes 
our hopes upon beyond the boundary line of time are sure. 
Let all who have found the world a vain show, a delusion 
and a snare, turn to the faith and true word of God, that 
never deceives. Every earthly trust may perish, but they that 
wait upon the Lord shall surely renew their strength. 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET 24I 

David could say in his last moments, " This is all my hope 
and all my desire." To have all the hope in Christ makes a 
happy life and a happy death. To have a divided hope, a little 
in Christ and a little in something else, makes an unhappy 
professor. The religion of such people makes them miserable, 
being one of alternate hope and fear, doubts and trusts, joys 
and sorrows. A writer in a religious paper says : "A company 
of captives were one day set at liberty. For many years they 
had been in bonds ; and the joy of being set free was like a 
foretaste of heaven. But there was one who, instead of re- 
joicing in his freedom, gathered up his broken fetters and car- 
ried them with him on his homeward journey. Wherever he 
stopped he might be heard mourning: 'Oh, these chains, 
these chains! What misery have they caused me !' And at last 
death found him still hugging his chains to his bosom." 

Thus it is with many professing Christians. Christ shed his 
blood to redeem them from the curse of the law. He wishes 
them to be his freemen, rejoicing in true gospel freedom from 
the curse of the law, the condemnation of sin, and the terror 
of coming wrath. But they will not be made happy. They 
speak as if they must still be saved by the law ; and as if Jesus 
had not shed his blood at all for sin, they keep crying out, 
" Oh, my sins, my sins ! what is to become of me because of my 
sins ?" 

Several years ago a passenger vessel was crossing the Atlantic 
ocean, when, one afternoon, all on board were startled by the 
fearful cry, '* A man overboard!" It was a young lad, who, 
when attending to some duty on the bowsprit of the ship, had 
been swept off by a mighty wave. The life-boat was instantly 
lowered, and stout arms were propelling her with all speed 
toward the drowning youth. On the deck stood four hundred 
persons intensely excited, and watching the result with throb- 
bing hearts and tearful eyes. 

As a strong wind was blowing at the time, a great distance 
soon separated the ship from the life-boat and the youth that 
it had gone to save. But now and again they could see him 
rise, struggling for life, upon the crest of some great wave, 



242 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

while every moment brought the life-boat nearer. At last a 
strong arm is stretched out to grasp him, and very soon he 
was safe on deck. 

The editor of the "New York Evangelist," who was on board, 
says : " Never did we experience such feelings of relief as at 
that moment. A murmur of joy and approbation, though al- 
most choked with tears, ran through the ship, a thr?ll like that 
which runs through heaven when a soul, shipwrecked and 
ready to perish, is rescued and brought back to God. 

Now, for this drowning young man there was but one hope 
— the life-boat. His safety did not depend upon his past life, 
whether good or bad, but upon getting into the life-boat. He 
did not need to raise any question as to whether that boat was 
built to- save him, nor as to who built it, and what were the 
intentions of its builder. There it comes to him in his ex- 
tremity, and the great thing was to get aboard. So Jesus in- 
vites the sinner to come to him and be saved, just as he is. 
He must see that the Lord is in earnest when he invites. He 
would not ask him to come to him, if he was not prepared to 
receive him the moment h^ does come ; and once in the Lord 
he shall never be confounded. 

Such was the hope of the Psalmist in his last moments. 
Upon this he pillowed his dying head, and his own description 
of the dying saint was applicable to his own case, " The end 
of that man is peace." Some Christians, in their closing mo- 
ments on earth, have unspeakable raptures of joy ; but much 
depends upon the nature of the disease that takes them away. 
But all who are in Jesus die safely. David Brainerd said, on 
his death-bed, " The grave appeared really sweet, and I 
longed to lodge my weary bones in it." And again, "Oh, 
blessed God, I am speedily coming to thee, I hope. Hasten 
the day, if it be thy blessed will." 

Said another dying saint, " Faith lies at anchor in the midst 
of the waves, and believes the accomplishment of tlie promises 
through all overturning confusions.- Upon this God do I live, 
who is our God forever, and will be our guide even unto death. 
Methinks I lie becalmed in his bosom." As Luther said in 



DAVID, THE ROYAL PROPHET. 243 

such a case, " I am not much concerned. Let Christ see to it. 
1 have nothing to fear." A missionary lady, Mrs. Bixly, died 
exclaiming, "Precious Jesus!" "Matchless grace!" "Joy, 
joy, joy!" 

But I must close. Let us learn, from David's history, the 
importance of watchfulness in the day of prosperity. A man 
who had got a large fortune left him, sent to his church* a re- 
quest for prayer. He felt that he was in a dangerous position 
— standing on slippery places. " Let him that thinketh he 
standeth take heed lest he fall." 

Let us also learn to welcome the word of God, even when it 
comes to smite and condemn us. Nathan's preaching was 
very painful to David. But he did not kill the preacher, like 
Herod, because he did not preach smooth things. He did not 
get into a rage and hate the preacher instead of hating his 
sins, as many do. No, he let the truth come in its condemning 
power, and starting back from the brink of ruin cried, " Forgive 
my iniquities, because they are great." " He did not try to ex- 
cuse them, or make them appear small. 

" I gave my life for thee, 

My precious blood I shed, 
That thou might'st ransomed be, 

And quickened from the dead 
I gave my life for thee, 
What hast thou done for me. 

" I spent long years for thee 

In weariness and woe, 
That one eternity 

Of joy thou might'st know ; 
I spent long years for thee ; 
Hast thou spent one for me? 

•* My Father's house of light, 

My rainbow-circled throne, 
I left for earthly night, 

For wanderings sad and lone ; 
I left it all for thee ; 
Hast thou left aught for me ? 



244 'i'HE WORLD S HOPE, 

** I suffered much for thee, 

More than thy tongue can tell, 

Of bitterest agony, 

To rescue thee from hell ; 

I suffered much for thee ; 

What 'dost thou bear for me ? 

" And I have brought to thee, 
Down from my home above, 

Salvation full and free, 
My pardon and my love ; 

Great gifts I brought to thee ; 

What hast thou brought to me ? 

" Oh, let thy life be given, 

Thy years for me be spent. 
World-fetters all be riven, 

And joy with suffering blent 
Give thou thyself to me, 
And I will welcome thee !" 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 245 



CHAPTER XVII. 

ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 

Elijah is one of the greatest of the prophets ; perhaps, with 
the exception of Moses, the greatest of them all. Indeed, be- 
tween him and the great law-giver there are many points of 
resemblance. They both come from God at a very dark pe- 
riod of the history of the Church. They both show great 
faith and invincible bravery in dealing with wicked men in 
high power ; and ages after, from among the innumerable mul- 
titude in heaven, these two were chosen to meet the Lord on 
the mount of transfiguration. 

Of the youth and early history of Elijah we are told nothing. 
He bursts upon us all at once in the sacred history, a fulU 
grown prophet of the Lord ; and the first words we hear from 
him, are such as make our ears tingle, and that smote against 
the king and his guilty court like huge billows of wrath. He 
comes upon us sudden as the lightning flashes from heaven , 
or, as one says, " a meteor kindled at the eye and blown on 
the breath of the Eternal." 

Religion was at a low ebb at this time, idolatry having 
usurped the place of the worship of the God of heaven. The 
priests of Baal had taken possession of the land, erected their 
altars upon the hills, and made the groves resound with their 
abominable blasphemies. The wicked king Ahab, and his 
wife Jezebel, did all they could to encourage and perpetuate 
this state of things. But the darkest hour is before the dawn ; 
and God's messenger, with the flashing sword of truth in his 
hand, and Almighty power to defend him, has come to Israel, 

Elijah was a man of a strong and marked individuality of 
character. His history impresses us, so that we seem to see 
him stand before us, the perfect representative of true great- 
ness , and to hear him thunder out his heaven-sent message, 



246 THE world's hope. 

with a courage that excites our admiration and wins our love. 
It was the highest and noblest kind of courage, true moral 
courage. There is often a great amount of mere animal 
courage, while the courage worthy of a man is wanting. Ta 
dash into the conflict of the battle-field, and in the wild excite- 
ment of the moment to perform deeds of wonderful daring, 
is often done by men who shrink back from doing what God 
and conscience tells them is right lest they should encounter 
the sneer of their companions in sin. Boasting of their cour- 
age they are the veriest cowards in the cause of eternal right. 
Many a Christian lady, who would turn pale at the sight of 
blood, has boldly gone into the consuming flame, or walked to 
the scaff"old with songs of victory, rather than deny her Lord. 
This is true courage worthy of immortal and responsible 
beings ; the other kind is possessed by tigers and bull-dogs, in 
larger measure than by man. 

Elijah goes boldly into the presence of the king, with plain 
garments and yet plainer speech. " As the Lord God of Israel 
liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain 
these years, but according to my word." Now, the inspired 
writers let us know that this closing up the heavens, and open- 
ing them again was the result of prayer. The apostle James 
says, " Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, 
and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain : and it rained 
not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth 
brought forth her fruit." 

Is it possible that a mortal man can thus have power with 
God.^ It is possible and true; and forms one of the wonders 
of his condescending love. Believing prayer takes hold of the 
Almighty's strength, it has the key that unlocks the treasures 
of heaven, and it has power to move that hand that moves all 
things. Oh Christian, be you man or minister, maid or ma- 
tron, of exalted position, or in poverty's vale, get the spirit of 
faith in prayer, and nothing shall be impossible unto yon 
Obstacles of all kinds in the path of duty will be removed or 
turned into helps ; rocks will be rent, and red seas part at 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 247 

your bidding ; and heaven's wonderful treasures will be at 
your command ! 

I am profoundly impressed with the thought that the grand 
defect of the religion of the day is, a lack of strong, unshaken 
confidence in the power of prayer. There are plenty of public 
forms of prayer, and great activity, energy, and enthusiasm 
in missions, and Sabbath Schools, and what is called Christian 
enterprise ; but I fear that the strong, wrestling importunity, 
the giving up of days to faithful pleading with God, the as- 
sured faith that the very things asked of God will be given, 
however unlikely to the eyes of sense, or the cold abstractions 
of science, which marked the Christians of former times, are 
wanting. God grant that in this I may be mistaken, but I 
have not the consolation of thinking so, from all I see and 
know among professing Christians. There is a desperate effort 
being made in our day to take as much of the supernatural 
out of religion as possible, and prayer is largely represented, 
not as man asking, and God directly giving, but as only doing us 
good indirectly by bringing our minds in contact with God. 
If men ever succeed in getting the supernatural out of reli- 
gion, there will be no religion left worth having — a mere cold 
compound of science and philosophy, with a dark, cheerless 
gloom of infidelity to pervade all. But God will take care that 
such a time shall never come. 

We have seen, as far as we have gone in this book, that all 
these men of faith were men of prayer. They asked what 
they wanted direct from God, and got direct answers. We 
can see that they were not troubled with the modern nonsense, 
held by some calling themselves ministers of Christ, that God 
does not directly give us anything now, but that all there is in 
prayer is the reflex influence it has upon our own minds. This 
is an invention of the enemy to get men to give up prayer alto- 
gether ; and it is very certain that Satan would not tremble 
before a million of prayers founded on such a theory. 

According to this notion, Abraham did not keep back the 
storm of coming wrah for a time from Sodom ; his-prayer 
only produced a benevolent effect upon his own mind. On 



24S THE world's hope. 

the same theory, that little band in John Mark's cottage, pray- 
ing all night, had no effect in the deliverance of Peter from 
prison, that would have happened at any rate ; but then they 
had a good time ; not that their prayers moved God, but only 
moved themselves. Away with such infidel notions, coming 
sneaking into Christian pulpits and prayer meetings, under 
false colors ! Every real Christian knows that God does di- 
rectly answer prayer every day ; though not by miracles, for 
with a completed revelation that is not necessary ; but by 
proofs of His interference in human affairs as direct as any 
miracle. 

But to be successful at a throne of grace, we must not only 
have faith, but be willing to make sacrifices to secure special 
seasons of prayer. The gay, the worldly, the gambler, give 
up night after night to the service of sin ; do we give up an 
hour of the quiet night to be alone with God ? In some of his 
great troubles, Luther was heard agonizing in prayer thus : 
" Oh God ! Oh thou my God ! Help me against all the wis- 
dom of the world. Thou should 'st do this. The work is not 
mine, but Thine. I have no business here. The cause is 
Thine, and it is everlasting and righteous." And again he 
was heard crying, " Lord, where art Thou ? My God, where 
art Thou ? Come, I pray Thee ; I am ready . Behold me 
prepared to lay down my life for Thy truth I will not let 
Thee go ; I will cling to Thee forever. Oh God, send help !" 
Listen to the midnight cry of John Knox, feeling almost at 
the point of death in his great importunity ; and John Welsh, 
found by his wife on a cold night, prostrate on the floor, 
pleading for the cause of God in Scotland. Ah ! this is some- 
thing different from saying prayers. Try it, my reader. You 
have Jesus for your example. "He went up into a mountain 
to pray, and contined all night in prayer to God." Oh, could 
we only have hid ourselves behind one of those gray rocks, 
and listened to that prayer! We would forever after be 
ashamed of our prayerless prayers. Up, up my Christian 
friends ; shake off sloth ; working for God is good, and giving 
to God is good, but none of these will avail much without 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 249 

the closet prayer of faith. God will allow you to come very 
near, and use great familiarity, if you only fully trust his 
word. Yea, he says, " Command ye me !" 

"Faith, bold faith, the promise sees, 
And trusts to that alone ; 
Laughs at impossibilities, 

And says, ' It shall be done.' " 

Elijah goes by the command of God to the brook Cherith, 
a quiet retreat, where he is to remain till events ripen for 
farther action. His drink is to be the little stream that rolls 
babbling over its pebbly bed, and ravens are to supply his food. 
Well supplied are those that God supplies. Their bread shall 
be given, their water sure. Their gracious Provider tells them 
not to be anxious, for while engaged in his work, he undoubt- 
edly will supply their wants. Indeed, his promise is pledged 
to that effect, and all undue care is dishonor done to his 
word. 

Dr. Kriimmacher, speaking on this event in the life of Elijah, 
relates the following beautiful illustration : 

" This God still liveth, a living Savior, who is always to be 
found of them that seek him, and is nigh unto them that call 
unto him. Mighty hosts are encamped about his servants, 
and when he saith ' Come,' they come, or ' Go,' they go. And 
there has been no end to his wonderful providence, even to 
the present day. What else was it, but the Lord God of 
Elijah, who. but a short time since, in our very midst, so kindly 
delivered a poor man out of his distress — not, indeed, by a 
raven, but by a poor little fugitive singing bird ? Vou are all 
well acquainted with the circumstances The poor man was 
sitting at his front door, early in the morning, his eyes red 
with weeping, and his heart crying to heaven, for he was ex- 
pecting an officer, that very day, to come and sell his property 
for a small debt, which he could not pay. While sitting thus, 
with a heavy heart, a little bird flew through the street, flutter- 
ing up and down, as if in distress, until at length, quick as an 
arrow, it flew over the good man's head into his cottage, and 



250 . THE WORLD S HOPE. 

perched itself upon an empty cupboard. The good man, little 
imagining who had sent him the bird, closed the door, caught 
the bird, and put it in a cage, where it immediately began to 
sing very sweetly, and it seemed to him as if it were singing 
the tune of a favorite hymn, viz.: " Fear thou not when dark- 
ness reigns," and as he listened 190 it he found himself much 
soothed and comforted by its melody. 

" Suddenly a knock is heard at the door. ' Ah, it is the 
officer,' thought the poor man, and arose to open it with fear 
and trembling. But no, it was the servant of a very respecta- 
ble lady. He said that the neighbors had seen a bird fly into 
his house, and he wished to know if he had caught it. ' Oh, 
yes,' answered the poor man, 'and here it is.' In a few min- 
utes the servant returned, and said : ' You have done my mis- 
tress a great service, for she sets a high value upon this bird. 
She is much obliged to you, and requests you to accept this 
trifle, with her thanks." The poor man received it thankfully, 
and it proved to be neither more nor less than the v^ry 
SUM for which he was sued. 

" Soon after, the officer came ; the poor man handed him the 
money, saying, ^ Here is your money ^ God hath sent it j now 
leave me in peace .^' " 

Happy they who have a firm trust in this God and his con- 
trolling Providence. In great peace shall they possess their 
souls. Their best Friend sits at the helm of affairs, and 
guides in such a way that all things shall work for their good. 
We remember the story of the distinguished man, who, unable 
to proceed in his journey on account of a storrii, was groaning 
in great mental distress, and unable to sleep. His pious 
servant said, " Master, do you not believe that God governed 
this world very well before you came into it.^" "Yes," was 
the reply. " And do you not believe that he will govern it 
very well after you leave it } " I have no doubt of it." " Then, 
master, can you not believe that he will govern it all right 
while you are in it.?" To this he made no reply, but shortly 
after turned over and went to sleep. 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 251 

More than two years have passed, and, according to the 
word of Elijah, the drouth continues ; and great distress be- 
gins to prevail in the guilty land. Even the brook Cherith has 
dried up, and, by Divine direction, the prophet has gone to 
reside with a widow of Sarepta, whose little store failed not 
while he remained in her house. But on these matters we 
cannot dwell at length. The time for action has come, and 
Elijah shows himself to the king. " Art thou he that troubleth 
Israel.^" is the angry greeting of Ahab. The prophet boldly 
replies, " I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father's 
house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the 
Lord, and thou hast followed Balaam." He demands from 
the king an opportunity to meet the priests of Baal on Mount 
Carmel, in the presence of the people; that imposture might 
be exposed, and the truth of God vindicated. This righteous, 
demand Ahab could not refuse, and messengers are sent in all 
directions to assemble the people. 

The appointed day has come, and the expected thousands 
begin to assemble. The four hundred and fifty priests of 
Baal, and tht same number of the priests of the grove, are all 
there. The mountain is covered with an eager and excited 
crowd, and great results, both for time and eternity, hang upon 
the decisions of that day. The crowd, we can suppose, are 
beginning to grow impatient, when, in the outskirts of the 
throng, there is an excitement seen. It is the wicked king, 
who, in great pomp and grandeur, has just arrived. The mul- 
titude of idolaters lift up a shout of welcome that seems to 
smite against the very heavens, while old Carmel seems to 
frown down upon their wicked contempt of the true God. 

Again the crowd becomes quiet under the hush of a general 
expectation. They are waiting for Elijah, and the question is, 
Will he come } Some there, no doubt, are hoping that he has 
shrunk back from the trying ordeal ; but there he comes, across 
the valley of Jezreel, with slow and solemn step, and the calm 
dignity of faith in God enthroned upon his brow. He loses 
no time, but with flashing eye, and tones of thrilling earnest- 
ness, says, " How long halt ye between two opinions ? If the 



252 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." He 
pauses, but there is no reply. The royal lips are sealed and 
the false priests are confounded. He then proposes a fair and 
equitable arrangement of the sacrifices, saying, " The God that 
answereth by fire, let him be the God." To which the people 
all shouted, " It is well spoken." 

And now came a moment of great anxiety. The priests of 
Baal began calling upon their God, " O Baal, hear us !" And 
the poor fanatic's shouted, and danced, and made the most 
frantic efforts around the sacrifice ; but no sign was given, no 
fire from heaven came. Elijah had stood quietly by watching 
their antics, but he now steps forward, and in words of 
scathing irony, said, " Cry aloud, for he is a God ; either he 
is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or perad- 
venture he sleepeth and must be awakened." And haggard, 
bleeding, and mortified, these deceivers of the people retire 
from the spot. God's true servant now approaches, and to 
put the direct interposition of God beyond all doubt, he fills 
four barrels of water and pours them on the wood and the 
sacrifice ; commands this to be done a second mnd a third 
time, till allis drenched with water, and the trenches are filled. 
Then lifting his eyes to heaven he utters an earnest prayer, and 
fire came down from heaven and burneth all up, as if it had been 
chaff in a furnace. With a shout that resounded among the 
mountain peaks and caves, the people fell upon their faces, 
crying, "The Lord, he is the God; the Lord he is the God." 
These wicked priests, the deceivers of souls, are slain accord- 
ing to the word of the Lord, and the truth is vindicated before 
all the people. 

Idolatry in such a gross form as we see it here is disgusting 
to us; but all loving of earthly things instead of God is 
idolatry. Our houses, our farms, our business, and our chil- 
dren, may all become our idols, by having that place in our 
hearts which God himself should occupy. We severely 
censure these Hebrews for departing from the living God, hvJ 
in so doing we are only condemning ourselves. 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 253 

Let US imitate Elijah, and be zealous for the true worship of 
the Lord. He has written the great truths of salvation in the 
Bible, and by his Spirit written them again upon our hearts ; 
and we ought to be bold in their defence. We are encom- 
passed on every side with the enemies of truth, and so should 
contend earnestly for the faith of the gospel. Even when 
religion is at a low ebb, its friends seemingly few, and its ene- 
mies many, then is the time to speak out for God, not in a 
corner nor in a whisper, but in the face of the multitude, and 
in tones loud and emphatic. We can see, in the case of the 
prophet, what good one bold, earnest man can do when ani- 
mated by the right spirit. Such men are the true patriots to 
their country, the true benefactors of their race. They -avert 
the awful judgments of God, and bring down imperishable 
blessings by their powerful prayers. 

Let us be co-workers with God in the work of making our 
sin-cursed world better. The hand that moves the stars is 
working for man's elevation. That heart which makes all 
hearts pulsate feels the highest interest in the salvation of 
souls ; and although his eye takes in at a glance the whole of 
his glorious works, there is nothing he loves so well to see as 
the humble and contrite heart turned toward himself. 

Sinner ! Take care that you do not die in the halt between 
two opinions. Are you sometimes almost persuaded to be 
wholly for Christ ^ Do not hesitate and vacillate any longer ; 
but now take the Lord for your portion forever. 

But we must return to the course of the prophet. After such 
a display of God's power and goodness on that mount, we 
would suppose that he would go on, his faith waxing stronger 
and stronger But alas ! this is not so. When the Queen 
Jezebel hears of what has happened, she is filled with rage 
and hate against the man of God. He is seized with a sud- 
den panic and flees for his life. The courageous prophet 
of yesterday becomes a trembling coward to-day. What a 
poor, chansceable, unreliable creature is man, if not found lean- 
ing on Divine strength. He ought to have known that he was 



254 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

only safe when doing God's work, and that to cast himself out 
of the path of duty, is to cast himself into the worst danger. 
But he flees into the wilderness and sits down under a juniper 
tree, full of doubts and fears and despondency. He sleeps, 
and after partaking of food miraculously provided, he journeys 
on to Mount Horeb. 

Here he takes up his abode in a cave, very likely the very 
same in which Moses once found a refuge. There in that 
desert grandeur, and amid its awful solitude, he wraps his 
prophet's mantle around him, and lies down on the hard ground 
as his bed, congratulating himself on his safety. All at once 
he is startled by a voice: "What doest thou here, Elijah.?" 
How4hat question must have confounded him. No work to 
do there, no mission of love to souls to accomplish there ; but 
plenty of great, noble work to do, from which he had fled. The 
question was three times repeated, and like as we all do, when 
he had no good reason to give for his conduct, he presented 
an excuse. " I have been very zealous for the Lord God of 
hosts ; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, 
thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword ; 
and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take' it 
away." 

How patiently and condescendingly the Lord dealt with his 
erring child. He bids him come forth and stand upon the 
summit of old Horeb, around the hoary brow of which cluster 
such immortal remembrances. There the Lord passes before 
him in a representation full of terror and full of meaning. 
First there is a mighty wind that rends the rocks and tears up 
the trees by the roots and casts all things on the surface into 
a wild confusion. This is followed by an earthquake that 
comes rumbling and grumbling through the mountain, and ex- 
torting many a groan from its flinty bosom. But look! the 
wliole mountain seems on fire, forked flames leaping from point 
to point, bursting through every fissure and threatening the 
prophet with instant destruction. But in none of these agents 
of terrible power did God show himself to Elijah. Hark ! he 
hears a voice, still and small, sweet in its tones of love, and he 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 255 

knew that God was in that voice. His Lord had not come to 
destroy, but to save, not in wrath but in love. 

To every wandering child of God the question comes, "What 
dost thou here ?" If in wicked and worldly society to do them 
good, or in the discharge of some plain duty, then we can ex- 
pect God's protection; but if we run into danger or go to 
worldly society from choice, as Peter did, then we are in great 
spiritual peril. To those who go into scenes of sinful dissipa- 
tion and amusement, God says, "What dost thou here .?" When 
Peter was in the company where he denied his Lord, one of 
them put to him that searching question, " Did not I see thee 
in the garden with Him V How he must have felt these words, 
for the garderi was connected with most solemn and impressive 
remembrances. So when professing Christians go to the giddy 
ball-room, to the theater, to places of fashionable resort where 
God is openly dishonored, they may be asked, " Did not I see 
thee at the communion-table with him } or at the prayer-meet- 
ing, or making a public profession of your love to him, and 
recording your vows forever to be his ?" 

And nothing can restore the wandering soul, but the still 
small voice that comes from Calvary. The whirlwind may 
produce a surface change, a mere outward movement ; the 
earthquake may go deeper and reveal the inward evils that lay 
under the mere exterior; and the fire may alarm and terrify^ 
but the power of God to salvation is only in the Cross. It is. 
the still small voice which says, " It is finished," which, plead- 
ing for the guiltiest of the guilty, says, " Father, forgive them 
for they know not what they do." And if the sweet, melting 
love that beams forth from that hallowed spot, does not lift us. 
up to God, purifying our hearts and making us new creatures, 
then we are lost indeed. 

Elijah returns from Horeb by the wilderness of Damascus, 
and to his great joy he finds that there are seven thousand 
faithful souls in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. 
In our seasons of depression we are apt to view things through 
the false medium of our own dark conceptions. God has ever 
kept a seed to serve him. In obscurity, m retirement, scarcely 



256 THE world's hope. 

known to the world, nor wanting to be known, he has those 
who love him with pure hearts fervently, and had rather die 
than dishonor his cause. 

Elijah comes back to his work with renewed courage. He 
found Ahab and his queen still engaged in their wicked prac- 
tices. To gain possession of a coveted vineyard he has mur- 
dered Naboth, and is going down in great state to take pos- 
session of his ill-gotten gain. All at once he sees a man 
approaching him with a steady step and stern look. Had the 
murdeied man appeared before him in his bloody shroud he 
could not have been more startled, for he sees that it is the 
prophet of God, and he knowing that he comes with the rebuke 
of the Lord upon his lips. Fixing his eye upon the king, he said, 
'* Hast thou killed and taken possession ? in the place where 
dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall they lick thy blood, even 
thine." With scowling brow but guilty fear in every feature, 
he says to the prophet, " Hast thou found me, O my enemy !" 
^' I have found thee," was the laconic, but terrible reply. 

The scene when Elijah opens the windows of heaven by his 
fervent prayers, is most graphic and highly instructive. At 
first there is but a little cloud like a man's hand, but he pleads 
on with faith encouraged and strengthened by this sign. The 
cloud increases till it curtains the whole heavens in darkness, 
and then breaks in teeming showers upon the parched and 
burning earth. All nature quickens into life under the heaven- 
sent blessing, and as streams of water leap from rock to rock, 
and roll down the mountains and fill up the rivers and brooks, 
the beds of which had so long been dry, who does not see that 
God is the hearer of prayer. So God, in answer.to prayer, still 
pours out refreshing showers of spiritual blessings upon his 
people. John Tivington, of Scotland, called a number of his 
brethren around him and proposed that they should spend a 
whole night in prayer for a blessing on the preaching of the 
gospel ; and the very next day five hundred were converted 
In like manner a number of Christians in Enfield, Massachu- 
setts, spent a whole night in prayer just before President Ed- 
wards preached that awful sermon, " Sinners in the hands of 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 257 

an angry God," under which great numbers were converted. 
It is well known how greatly ' blessed that school of the 
prophets, at Hamilton, New York, has been. It was founded 
in prayer and in every strait its founders called upon God. In 
the life of Dr. Nathaniel Kendrick the following fact is stated : 
"The meetings of the board, particularly in the early history 
of the seminary, often presented scenes of deep and moving 
interest. They were not so much seasons for the dry discus- 
sion of business as of prayer, inasmuch as from their great 
extremity they were driven to ask counsel of God and implore 
deliverance from embarrassment through his interposition. At 
one meeting in 1826, most of the time was spent in earnest 
prayer and strong crying to God for direction. The board 
felt the need of a suitable edifice to accommodate the growing 
school, and besides, it was in a great measure destitute of 
funds to aid those whom they had received as beneficiaries. 
At the meeting now referred to, the only vote passed was one 
appointing a day of fasting and prayer, some weeks from that 
session. It was a dark hour, but just the darkness that pre- 
cedes the cheerful light of day. For those prayers were taking 
effect. They disturbed the sleep of Mr. Nicholas Brown, of 
Providence, Rhode Island, and he dreamed nightly about Ham- 
ilton. And so he came to his pastor. Dr. Gano, and said, 
' They are in trouble at Hamilton, I think, for I can't sleep 
nights; my dreams about them disturb me. Do you know 
their condition.'' Upon being told that he was ignorant of 
their exact condition, Mr. Brown said, 'You must go and see ;' 
and upon this Dr. Gano made the journey to Hamilton, at Mr. 
Brown's expense, and finding out their great distress, and re- 
porting it to Mr. Brown, he at once sent them one thousand 
dollars, which relieved their perplexity.' 

Those who honor God he delights to honor. Elijah had 
long stood a bold and fearless defender of the right; fighting 
right manfully the battles of the Lord. And now his heavenly 
Master wants him home, and is going to take him in a tri- 
umphant chariot of fire. He is informed of his coming glory, 
and we can form no idea of the hallowed joy which he must 



258 THE world's hope. 

have carried about in his soul as he walked about among his 
fellow-men — in the world but not of it. His last visit is paid 
to the school of the prophets, for he could not but feel a deep 
interest in those who are to stand up for truth and righteous- 
ness when he is gone. God's ministers are never so taken up 
with their future blessedness as to forget the interests of that 
loved Zion for which they have labored and wept and prayed, 
and nothing can please them better than to see good, faithful 
men of prayer and faith coming forward to take their places, 
and to grasp the standard that is falling from their failing and 
trembling hands. 

So great were the thoughts that came crowding upon the 
mind of the prophet at this moment that he wished to be 
alone ; but his faithful friend Elisha, knowing what was to oc- 
cur, would not leave him. His soul clung to his Master the 
more closely as the last moment of parting approached. Our 
privileges are more valued as they are about to take their de- 
parture ; and, no doubt, he wished to catch his friend's last 
words and his parting blessing. See these two good men jour- 
neying on together, the one soon to be in glory, the other 
about to begin a career of great usefulness. Fifty of the sons 
of the prophets stand at the distance to view the expected 
translation. The miraculous events of the Bible were not 
done in secret. Our Lord's miracles were all performed in 
the open day, and for the most part before great numbers. He 
showed himself after his resurrection to five hundred brethren 
at once, and breathing upon his followers his parting blessing, 
he was taken up into heaven before many witnesses. 

Elijah is not to die in the way appointed to other men ; but 
he must pass over Jordan before he mounts his chariot of fire. 
The stroke of his mantle parts the waters, and now, turning to his 
friend, he says, " Ask what I shall do for thee before I 
am taken from thee." He did not tell him to ask for some- 
thing when he was a glorified saint in heaven ; no, he was to 
ask now, for nowhere does God encourage petitions to be 
made to the redeemed in glory. " Let a double portion of 
thy spirit be upon me." O happy man ! to have in his heart 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 259 

such a wise wish — such a holy choice. Wealth will perish, 
honors die away, and fame is but a puff of breath ; but a. 
holy disposition comes from God, and, like its source, can never 
die. We are to covet earnestly the best gifts ; those which will 
make us the most holy and the most useful. If such is our 
choice to-day, our Heavenly Father says, " Ask what ye will, 
and itshallbe done unto you." According to our faith are our 
gifts in regard to spiritual things. 

Elijah confessed the difficulty of answering such a request, 
and said that its being granted was to depend upon one con- 
dition : " If thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall 
be so unto thee ; but if not, it shall not be." We are told that 
this holy man was going on talking when, all at once, the heav- 
enly chariot came for him. When he got the intimation 
that he was soon to leave earth, he did not retire to some cell or 
cave of the earth, but went on until the last moment attending 
to the ordinary duties of life. Let us seek so to live that when 
the Master sends for us we may be found about His business. 

Elisha sees the ascension of his friend and cried out, " My 
Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen 
thereof!" He rends his garments as a token of his sorrow; 
for though the event was gain to his old Master, it was a great loss 
to him and to the church of God ; heaven was richer but earth 
was poorer by the departure of such a good man. In this as- 
cension the mantle of Elijah falls to the earth. It is not taken 
and laid up in the school of the prophets, to be venerated 
and worshiped as-a holy relic. Such things can only be done 
when true, intelligent piety gives place to superstition. He 
casts it about him, and sad and solitary he journeys on to be- 
gin the great work to which he has been called and set apart. 

The whole history of Elijah shows how God honors his dear 
servants. Down to the last hour of their national existence, 
the Jews felt the holy influence of this good man. In no period 
of the world's history has the Lord left himself without faith- 
ful witnesses, and when one is taken away to his glorious home 
another comes forth with heavenly credentials to prove that 
he is the sent of God. 



26o THE world's HOPE, 

After centuries had passed away with this good man in 
heaven, he was permitted to visit our earth. He had seen our 
adorable Redeemer leave his throne in glory to come to earth 
to lay down his life for sinners ; and when the time drew near 
for the tragic scenes of Calvary to transpire, he and Moses 
were permitted to meet our Lord on the Mount of Transfigur- 
ation. The leader and law-giver of Israel and one of the 
most distinguished among the prophets, are sent to pay their 
adoration to their Lord, in the presence of his disciples. In 
him both the law and the prophets find their fulfillment, and 
these holy visitors from the courts of glory joined with those 
on earth who were beginning to love him, to " Crown him Lord 
of all." 

Here was a visit to earth made by glorified human beings. 
No doubt God employs them often on errands of love. Often 
may those that have been taken from us be near us when we 
know it not; and when the last hour of our earthly probation 
shall come, they will be among " those who shall give a glad 
welcome to our liberated spirits to our eternal home. 

But we must bid farewell ' to the prophet of Carmel. We 
part with him reluctantly, for the contemplation of his strong 
and noble character does us good. His is a life well worth re- 
cording. The most that can be said of a great majority of our 
race is, that they lived, that they were worse than useless, and 
that they died. But here was a life in earnest, a life dedicated 
to God, and useful through all time to men. The earth of our 
planet contains not his dust, but passing through some change 
it is glorified, like as the bodies of the saints shall be after their 
resurrection. How glorious to spend an eternity with such 
men \ But O how much more glorious to see Him face to face 
who died for our offences ! 

-•Though earth has full many a beautiful spot, 

As a poet or painter might show, 
• Yet more lovely and beautiful, holy and bright, 

To the hopes of the heart, and the sjurit's glad ught, . 
Is the land that no mortal may know." 



ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE. 26: 

There the crystaline stream bursting forth from the thi-one, 

Flows on, and for ever will flow ; 
Its waves, as they roll, are with melody rife, 
And its waters are sparkling with beauty and life, 

In the land which no mortal may know. 

And there, on its margin, with leaves ever green, 

With its fruits healing sickness and woe. 
The fair Tree of Life, in its glory and pride, 
Is fed by that deep, inexhaustible tide, 

Of the land which no mortal may know. 

' There, loo, are the lost ! whom we loved on this earth, 
With whose mem'ries our bosoms yet glow; 
Their relics we gave to the place of the dead, 
But their glorified spirits before it have fled 
To the land which no mortal may know. 

'There the pale orb of night, and the fountain of day, 

Nor beauty nor splendor bestow ; 
But the presence of Him, the unchanging, I am ! 
And the holy, the pure, the immaculate Lamb ! 

Light the land which no mortal may know. 

" Oil ! who but must pine, in this dark vale of tears. 

From its clouds and its shadows, to go ? 
To walk in the light of the glory above. 
And to share in the peace, and the joy, and tlie love. 

Of the land which no mortal may know." 



262 THE world's hope. 



CHAPTER XVIIl. 

ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 

That most devoted Christian, the Rev. Samuel J. Mills, 
when in a deeply distressed state of mind on account of his 
sms, said to his mother, " O that I had never been born I For 
two years I have been sorry God ever made me." Her 
noble reply was, " My son, you are born, and you can never 
throw off your existence, nor your everlasting accountability 
for your conduct." God has a plan of our lives, and the 
noblest spirit we can cultivate is, to be a cheerful co-worker 
with God in all his holy purposes and designs, and in the 
darkest hour to believe that he is leading us in the right way. 
Fletcher said, " I have been forced by many disappointments 
to look for comfort in nothing but in the comprehensive 
words, 'Thy^vill be done' A few more trials will convince 
you experimentally of the heavenly balm they contain to 
sweeten the pains and heal the wounds that crosses and afflic- 
tions may cause." 

When the heavenly call came to Elisha, it found him at the 
plough ; and leaving all his worldly entanglements, he followed 
the divine direction, till now we find him the honored suc- 
cessor of the translated prophet. When great men are 
removed from the church we are ready to feel as if the cause 
of God had sustained an irreparable loss. But God knows 
the end from the beginning ; and though he takes the most 
useful of his servants away, yet he sees to it that his own cause 
shall not suffer for want of agents to carry it on. It is true 
that it is a solemn event when God's faithful servants are 
taken away We feel as if the bulwarks of the church were 
torn away, and as if the wild waves of error could now roll in 
with impunity. But God is in the midst of his church, and 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 263 

she shall not be moved. Their holy example, their fervent 
prayers, their wise counsels, are greatly missed ; but their 
work is taken up by others, to whom a kindred spirit is given, 
and the cause of truth stands secure as the throne of God. 

When God called, and inspired his prophets and apostles 
he did not disturb or change their natural talents, or the 
peculiarities of temperament and disposition, which constituted 
their individuality among men. On the contrary, he uses 
these for his own glory and the edification of his people. 
Moses was naturally meek and sagacious; Isaiah, full of poetic 
fire; Peter, all zeal and impetuosity; John, gentle and loving; 
and Paul, logical and intellectual ; and so they were all unlike 
Ko each othi;r in some respects, and yet alike in having the 
same spirit, and working to the accomplishment of the same 
object. Luther and Melancthon were no more alike than is 
the violet and the rose, yet they both ornamented the garden 
of the Lord. Carey and Judson, were very different, yet their 
hearts both burned with missionary zeal. So with Elijah 
and Elisha ; there was a wonderful unity in their lives, and 
yet a marked individuality distinguished each. 

" Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea." 

The new prophet has much hard work before him ; for 
Israel is now in a dark and wicked state. The corrupt king 
Ahab is dead ; but his wife, equally corrupt and with more 
force of character, is still alive. False gods are still wor- 
shiped, while " darkness covered the land, and gross dark- 
ness the people." Elisha goes to Jericho, to the school of the 
prophets, to wait for further manifestations of his Lord's will. 
We must both wait and work, in God's service. They who 
wait, renew their strength, and so are more fit for their work. 
The fisherman is not always engaged in catching fish, but must 
sometimes be employed in mending his nets. And so must it 
be with fishers of men. Even the temporary residence of a 
good man in a place is a blessing to it. The inhabitants of 
the city came to the prophet, and represented that they had 
one great draw-back to the prosperity of the place — the water 



264 THE world's hope. 

was bad. Josephus mentions a spring at this place that was 
injurious to health, and made the trees and the fruits of the 
earth decay. 

Elisha at once listens to the petition of the people to heal 
their waters. Our most common mercies are the most impor- 
tant, but this truth is only recognized when they are taken 
from us. By a direct miracle the waters were rendered 
healthful and pleasant. He thus took an early opportunity, in 
a public and influential manner, to show his credentials as one 
sent of God. The whole Bible is founded on miracle, and all 
the attempts of men to explain these on natural principles are 
utterly silly and absurd. On this subject a clear reasoner, Dr. 
Uhlhorn, says : 

"Miracles cannot be got out of the Bible, either by natural 
explanation or by figurative interpretation. Nor is it of any 
use to abate something here and there, to set aside this or that 
miracle entirely, or to conceive its miraculous quality to be less 
miraculous, for the least miracle is as incomprehensible as the 
greatest. In vain, also, is the attempt to disjoin the miracles ; 
to separate them as debris^ and to hold fast only what remains, 
for all Christianity rests fundamentally upon the miracle of the 
appearance of Christ ; and whoever rejects miracles must 
also reject the fundamental fact of Christianity, the chief 
article of the Christian faith. Nor is this all ; he must reject 
all revelation, for revelation is miracle. And if he then, per- 
haps, comforts himself with the thought that natural religion 
still remains, this consolation also rests fundamentally upon 
illusion. To speak plainly, whoever denies miracles has no 
God. He may always, if only from an instinctive fear of 
atheism, hold fast that there is a God, but it is a dead word, a 
name, for this God stands in no living relation to the world, 
Man has nothing to hope or to fear from him. Prayer is no 
longer possible, for all praying depends upon the conviction 
that God grants what we ask. If God performs no miracles, 
and can perform none ; or, in other words, if he no longer 
acts in this world, if he is shut out of it, if the order of nature 
does not admit him, if everything that takes place is nothing 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 265 

but an unbroken chain of final causes and effects — then prayer 
depends upon an- illusion; and the illusion must sooner or 
later become evident to man, shrink as he may from this con- 
clusion of his reason." 

" 1 would therefore ask you not to shrink from a clear per- 
ception of the whole scope and bearing of this question, from 
the'beginning to the end. Strauss is perfectly right in treat- 
ing the question of miracles as the question of the existence 
of Christianity. He who does away with miracles not only 
banishes, as Strauss says, the priests from the Church ; he 
banishes the Church itself, and Christianity, and the living 
God, besides." 

Mercy and judgment are blended together in God's ways, 
and so must they be in the actions of his prophets, and the 
teaching of his ministers. Elisha had just performed a mira- 
cle of great mercy to a whole city, but now we are to see the 
flashing of the sword of Divine justice. While on his way to 
Mount Carmel, he had to go through Bethel, a place rendered 
memorable by the vision which Jacob had there. It is now a 
wicked and profane place, where the altars of -the true God 
are thrown down, and where idol worship abounds. As soon 
as the man of God came in view of the place, there came out 
a large number of wicked youths, in our translation rendered 
little children. The word, however, is used in reference to 
young men, or persons grown up. Very likely they were 
sent out by the idolatrous priests to insult the prophet. 

These profane youths began to shout, " Go up, thou bald 
head! Go up thou bald head!" No doubt by the phrase, 
"Go up," they referred to the translation of Elijah, and thus 
showing their hatred of both the prophets. The blighting 
curse of God fell upon them there and then ; and forty-two of 
them were torn by two she bears that came out of the woods 
Let this teach young people to stand in awe and sin not. God 
will avenge any disrespect shown to his aged servants, and, 
sooner or later, all contempt displayed to the religion of 
heaven, through its professors, will recoil upon the heads of 
those who manifest it. In this case the parents were as 



266 THE world's HOPE. 

guilty as their children. They had trained them up in igno- 
rance of the true God, and had set them an example of mock- 
mg at sacred things. 

Alas ! even among professing Christians there is too little 
respect shown to God's servants in the presence of the young. 
How often will some peculiarity of person or manner, some 
weakness of God's ministers, be made a subject of ridicule or 
rude jest in the presence of the children ; and that, too, just 
after returning from the house of prayer. Need they wonder 
if these young people get into the habit of scoffing at all min- 
isters ; and to mock at the messenger of truth is the sure way 
to learn to mock the message itself? Let such remember that 
God will not be mocked, and that as they sow so will they 
reap. They have sowed in laughs and mockery at holy things, 
and so God says that he will " laugh at their calamities, and 
mock when their fear cometh."- 

But we must pass to several events in the life of this good 
man, in which the power of God was shown to be with him. 
Traveling about in the Lord's work, he one day entered 
Shunem. There dwelt a woman of wealth, and of a kind and 
hospitable heart. She urged him to make her house his home, 
which proposal is accepted, and " as oft as he passed by he 
turned in thither to eat bread." This good woman projected 
a plan for making him still more comfortable, and, consulting 
with her husband about it, " a prophet's chamber " was built 
on the wall ; and there he found a quiet resting-place and a 
spot for uninterrupted communion with God. 

All this kindness on the part of this family excited the 
prophet's gratitude; and that Lord who takes notice of even 
a cup of water when given to his people from a right motive,, 
did not let their kindness pass without its reward. This- 
couple had lived long together, but, as yet, their home had not 
echoed the glad voice of childhood's prattle. They were 
childless. God, in answer to the prophet's prayer, sends them 
a lovely boy, and we can easily imagine how their fond hearts 
would cling around him. The whole aspect of their home is 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 267 

changed, and he grows up under their loving care, a haj^py 
and dutiful boy. 

But, alas ! he is soon taken from them. Being out with his 
father in the field one day, he is seized by the cold hand of 
death. Perhaps that very morning his mother had gazed upon 
him proudly, and thought of what a prop he would be to her 
declining years ; but before noon she looks upon his pale face, 
on which death has stamped his seal. 

How does this fond mother act under this crushing blow ? 
Does she give way to that wild and clamorous grief that 
murmurs against God ? No, far from it. She hastens to 
Mount Carmel to tell her sorrows to Elisha, and, in reply to his. 
question, "Is it well with the child.'*" she answered, "It is 
well." Sweetly meek and submissive under this severe trial, 
she looks up through her tears into the face of her Heavenly 
Father, and said, "It is well." She dreads to return to her 
home, for its chief joy has gone out in darkness, but // is luell. 
That brigh't eye which always met the kindred glance of her 
own love is closed in death, but // is well. Silent now is the 
tongue that spoke to her such loving words, and cold now are 
the lips that kissed her so fondly, but // is well. Oh woman, 
great is thy faith ! From thy bright example may we learn to 
trust God when we cannot see him, and to say, in the wildest 
storm that beats upon us, "// is well.'" 

Isis, doubtless, a sore affliction to a mother when her babe 
is torn from her bosom. Through her fast falling tears she 
says : 

** One little bud adorned my bower, 
And shed sweet fragrance round; 
It grew in beauty every hour, 
Till, ah .' the spoiler came in power, 
And crushed it to the ground." 

But, tenderly as a mother loves, he who has taken the dear 
one loves it still more. Yes, afflicted mother, your babe is in 
safe hands. Your Lord will take good care of it for you ; and 
if you are one of Christ's redeemed ones, you will find your 
darling again, so bright and so loving, and so happy that you 



268 THE world's HOPE. 

will be compelled to acknowledge that your Friend above did 
all things well. To a weeping mother, standing over the little 
dead body of her babe, a good minister said, " Your child will 
have two Fathers in heaven, but only one mother." wSo you 
see it is not lost to you. It is yours still, and will be yours 
forever. 

To those who have children in heaven, let it lend a new 
attraction to that bright world for you. Dr. Payson, I believe 
it was, who said that he thought more of heaven since his wife 
had gone to be a citizen of the golden city. Many a mother 
takes a deep interest in some far distant land, that before she 
cared not for, because her son or daughter now lives there. It 
is a great privilege to have a child in glory, singing God's 
high praise. But do not miss the way, and make the parting 
an eternal one. Put your hand into that of your adorable 
Savior, and he will lead you safely in through the golden gate, 
to go no more out forever. 

But, to proceed with our narrative ; the prophet goes to the 
house of mourning with the sad woman, prays over the dead 
child, and gives him alive once more to the now joyful mother. 
O, how blessed to the people of God will be the day when the 
same power that wrought this change shall raise from the dead 
those who sleep in Jesus, and death-divided friends shall meet, 
not only in spirit but in the body, and be for ever with each 
other and with the Lord. Then, even in the flesh, shall we see 
the Lord. 

Naaman's cure of leprosy by Elisha is full of instruction and 
interest. When read in the light of the Cross of Christ, it is 
full of gospel truth. As I have dwelt at length upon this inci- 
dent in my book called "Grace and Truth," 1 will now only 
refer to a few points not there spoken of at any great length. 
In some of Naaman's invasions of war he had carried away a 
number of captives out of the land of Israel. Among them 
was a little maid whom he gave to his wife to wait upon her 
As an old writer says, " A small chink may serve to let in 
much light," and so this little maid brings a great blessing, 
both temporal and spiritual, to that house. A great wrong had 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 269 

been done her, she had been torn away from nome and dear 
friends, and perhaps some very dear to her had been slain by the 
conqueror ; yet, instead of sitting down in sullen despair and 
brooding over her wrongs, she seeks to return good for evil, 
and tells her mistress of the man of God in Israel who could 
cure her husband of his loathsome disease. 

There is work in this world for every child, of God to do. 
The fields are white to harvest, and the weakest and the fee- 
blest can gather in a little for the Lord. One can give 
time to the work of making the world better, while an- 
other can give money. One can employ the ready pen, 
another the eloquent tongue, and a third the prayer of faith. 
The great thing is, to have " a mind to work " for Jesus. If we 
have the love of Jesus in our hearts, that will make us ingen- 
ious in finding out plans to promote his glory. To speak a 
word to some one whom you have influence with, to send a 
tract to some one in a letter, following it with much prayer, 
and to set an example such as all can see who honor the Lord, 
are means of doing good open to all. 

Naaman hears the words of the little maid concerning the 
man of God. Faith cometh by hearing, and faith at once 
brings forth works. So with great pomp and much display of 
his greatness, he comes to Elisha. In one thing he fails. He 
is not disposed to take the blessing of a cure from God in the 
humble way it is offered. He must have the blessing in his 
way, not in God's way. His way is to pay for it ; God's way, 
to give it for nothing. His way is for the man of God to comis 
to him, go through some splendid and impressive ceremonies, 
and then a cure be effected , God's way was that the prophet 
was not to see him at all, to perform no rites, nor ceremonies, 
but simply to tell him to dip his diseased body seven times in 
Jordan. God would not bow to his plan, and he would not 
bow to God's; and so, in a rage, he was about to carry his dis- 
ease back with him, had he not repented, that is, changed his 
mind. 

It is the old story over again, as old as the .all of man. 
Man wants to pay a price for his salvation. He wants to put 



270 THE world's hope. 

forms and rites and stately performances in the place of the 
worship of the heart. The religion of form is the religion of 
fallen humanity. We need not wonder at the great popularity 
of ritualism in the present day. It will come to this by and 
by, that nearly all who are not in Christ by a living faith will 
have a religion of form, and the more gorgeous and pompous 
the form, the more fashionable it will be. This is so clearly 
illustrated in the following little narrative that my readers will 
be pleased that I quote it : 

" Alice was an only child, an heiress. Lovely and accom- 
plished, she lived for this world, and this world offered her no 
ordinary attractions. Idolized by her parents, and beloved by 
an accepted suitor, she knew not the meaning of a wish ungrat' 
ified. 

" But an unexpected visitor arrived at the mansion. A pale 
messenger came to Alice. A hectic flush suffused her beauti- 
ful face rendering it, if possible, more lovely still. The eagle 
eye of affection soon perceived that the seeds of consumption 
had been laid. The skilled physician pronounced the heart- 
rending verdict that her days were numbered and self-indul- 
gence would soon close. 

" Alice sank by degrees, and as she lay on her couch, sur- 
rounded with all the luxuries that wealth could procure, began 
to think how sad it was to leave her loving friends and all her 
brilliant prospects, and to go — where ? where ? 

" She could not fitid an answer satisfactory to her soul. 

"So she sent for the High Church clergyman. He came. 
The family were assembled. He produced a missal. They 
all knelt around the bed. He intoned the service for the sick. 
Having received her confession, and pronounced absolution, 
he, with peculiar genuflexions, administered the sacrament, and 
placing his hands on her, blessed her, and pronounced her a 
good child of the Church. He departed, perfectly satisfied 
with his own performances, and assuring the parents that all 
was right. 

" Was Alice satisfied ? 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 27 1 

"She had submitted to all. She had endeavored to join in 
the service, but in her immortal soul she felt a blank. 

'''Father,' said she, 'I am going to die. Where am I 
going.?' 

" The father gave no reply. 

" ' Mother, darling, can you tell me what I am to do to get to 
heaven.?' 

" No reply, save tears, 

" ' William, you who were to be the guide of my life, can you 
tell me anything of the future.?' 

" No response. 

" ' I'm lost ! lost !' she exclaimed. 'Am I not, father .? Is there 
any one who can tell me what I must do to be saved .?' 

" At length the father spoke. 

" ' My child, you have always been a dutiful daughter, and 
have never grieved your parents. You have regularly attended 
the Abbey Church and helped in its services, and the minister 
has performed the rights of the Church and expressed himself 
satisfied with your state.' 

" ' Alas ! father, I feel that is not enough. It is no rest to 
my soul. It is hollow — it is not real. Oh ! I am going to die, 
and I know not where I am going. Oh ! the blackness of the 
darkness! Can no one tell me what I can do to be saved.?' 

"Blank despair, was pictured on her countenance. Misery 
overshadowed the circle. They were overtaken by a real 
danger. Death was in their midst. Eternity was looming 
before them. They knew not how to answer the appeal of an 
immortal soul, awakened to a sense of sin — to a dread of ap- 
pearing before God — to the terror of hell. 

" Alice was attended by a little maid, who was in the habit of 
frequenting a meeting held in a barn in the village, where 
prayer and praise were offered up in simplicity, and where 
they sang the old hymns : 

" There is a fountain filled with blood. 
Drawn from Immanuel's veins, 
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
Lose all their guilty stains ; " 

and 



272 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

'• I lay my sins on Jesus, 

The spotless Lamb cf God ; 
He be9,rs them all, and frees us 
From the accursed load ; " 

and where she heard words which reminded her of the good 
old pastor. 

" She longed to tell her mistress that she might ' wash and be 
clean,' but felt diffident. At last she took courage, and just 
as the Israelitish captive said unto Naaman's wife, ' Would God 
my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he 
would recover him of his leprosy,' she told her mistress, 
' There is a preacher in the village who proclaims salvation 
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and urges us to accept 
the forgiveness freely offered in the gospel.' 

" ' Oh that I could see him !' exclaimed the dying girl. 

" Alice besought her father to invite the strange preacher to 
the house i and though he thought it extraordinary, her wish 
was law\ 

"Again the family were assembled, and the man of God 
entered the room. The dying girl, raising herself, appealed to 
him ; ' Can you tell me what I must do to obtain rest for my 
soul, and die at peace with God ?' 

" ' I fear I cannot.' 

"Alice fell back. 'Alas!' said she, ' and is it so .^ Is there 
no hope for me.?' 

" 'Stay,' said he, 'though I cannot tell you what you can 
do to be saved, I can tell you what has been dojie for you. 

" ' Jesus Christ, the Savior God, has completely finished a 
work by which lost and helpless sinners may be righteously 
saved. God, who is love, saw us in our lost and ruined state. 
He pitied us, and in love and compassion sent Jesus to die for 
us. ' God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever bclieveth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life.' He shed his precious blood on the 
accursed tree, in the stead and place of sinners, that they 
might be pardoned and saved. ' Believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 273 

" ' And I have nothing to do ?' 

" 'Nothing, but-to believe. No doing, working, praying, 
giving, or abstaining, . can give relief to a conscience 
burdened with a sense of guilt, or rest to the troubled 
heart. It is not a work done in you by you7'5elf^ but a work 
Aox^^ for you by another^ long, long ago, Jesus has completed 
the work of our redemption. He has said, 'It is finished.' 
Through faith in him you have pardon. It is impossible for a 
sinner to do ought to save himself. It is impossible to add 
anything to the perfect work of Christ. Doing is not God's 
way of salvation, but ceasing from doing, and believe what 
God in Christ has already done for you. ' God has given to us 
eternal life and this life is in his Son. 

" ' I do believe that Jesus died on the cross for sinners ; but 
how am I to know that God has accepted i?ie V 

'' "Jesus, the God-man, has ascended into heaven. He has 
presented his blood before God, and has been accepted for 
us; and when you believe, you are accepted in him." 

" The awakened sinner listened with breathless attention. 
She received the word of God, which revealed Christ co her 
soul. The glad tidings fell as a balm upon her wounded 
spirit. Her face was lit up with heaven's sunlight. Looking 
upwards, she exclaimed, ' Oh, what love '. what grace : 
' Jesus, thy blood and righteousness 
My beauty are, my glorious dress.' 

And in a few days she departed to be with Christ. " 

Naaman, listening to better counsel than his own prejudices 
and national pride, and so in obeying the word of the Lord, 
went home cured in body, and with his soul filled with a clear 
conception of the Great Jehovah, and determined to worship 
him only. 

An incident here occurred, that is so full of warning and 
instruction, that we must not pass it by in silence. Gehazi 
was a servant of Elisha, and, it has been supposed, was with 
Elijah in the same capacity. Gratitude for his cure, led 
Naaman to press upon the prophet the acceptance of a very 
liberal present. His wish was to impress upon the mind of 



274 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

this distinguished heathen, that the gifts of God can not be 
bought, that all was of free grace, and his reply to the gene- 
rous offer was, " As the Lord liveth, I will accept none." 

Then it was that the wicked thought of enriching himself 
by a lie occurred to the mind of Gehazi. He thought that it 
was too bad that this rich man should carry back all this 
wealth to his own country. If his master had false scruples 
about receiving a gift, he had none ; and acting on the wicked 
impulse, he runs after the carriage of Naaman, and, under a 
false representation, obtains the desire of his heart. 

Ah I how little do we know our own weakness till the day of 
trial comes. We think ourselves strong, fortified by a good 
reputation built up steadily by a life time of moral integrity; 
and if any man were to suggest a departure from the straight 
line of honesty, we would indignantly exclaim, " Is thy serv- 
ant a dog that he should do this thing. ^" But when the unex- 
pected hour of trial comes, the very thing is done the mention 
of which was so repulsive. That stream seems very bright 
and clear ; you would not think that there is a great deal of 
mud and impurity lying at the bottom, till something occurs to 
stir it up, and then we are astonished to find a filthy puddle 
instead of a pure, sparkling stream. 

Gehazi carries his gains into the tower, or secret place, and 
having hid it securely away, puts on a look, as if nothing had 
occurred, and boldly goes into the presence of the prophet. 
Little did he think that all was already known, and that his sin 
had found him out. Elisha calmly rebukes him, and pro- 
nounces his punishment, which was, that the loathsome disease 
of Naaman should cleave to him all his days. Ah ! how 
empty his gains would seem now. He had been thinking him- 
self rich; perhaps, in imagination, picturing to himself the 
things he would buy, and in the style in which he would live. 
But now, with his health gone, his character gone, all enjoy- 
ment in life gone, a disgraced and ruined man, he slunk away 
from the society of men ; carrying with him the conviction 
that all this misery he had pulled down on his own head. 

We see that we may fall into sin, while jK)sscssing the very 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET 0¥ THE SUCCESSION. 275 

best religious privileges. The means of grace and the grace of 
the means are very different. This man dwelt in the house- 
hold of this holy man, saw his godly life and heard his fervent 
prayers ; and yet, was not made better by either. So Judas 
enjoyed our Lord's ministry, and saw his holy example, and yet 
was lost. And it is worthy of notice that both those men were 
ruined by the same sin, the sin of covetousness. " They that 
will be rich, fall into temptations and a snare, and many hurt- 
ful lusts that drown men in destruction and perdition." 

But to return to the life of Elisha ; that noble man goes on 
in his career of doing good on every hand. The sons of the 
prophets were enlarging the place of their abode, and to save 
one of them from distress, a miracle is wrought. The king of 
Syria was preparing ambuscades against Israel, but his designs 
are exposed by the prophet. This so enraged the king that 
he sends an armed host to apprehend him. His servant was 
much alarmed, and cried, " Alas ! my master, how shall we 
do.-*" But the prophet was quite calm and serene in the midsl 
of all the danger. His reply was, " Fear not ; for they tha( 
be with us are more than they that be with them." He re- 
ferred to a great multitude of angels with which they were en- 
compassed, and which the young man's eyes were opened to 
see. If we could clearly see the means that God has taken for 
our protection how trifling would our outward and physical 
dangers seem. This host of armed men were stricken with 
blindness, so that the prophet led them to the king of Israel. 

In the course of this book we see how much holy angels 
have to do with the affairs of men ; and what a deep interest 
they have taken in the progress of our race. Called into ex- 
istence before man, gifted with superior intellectual powers, 
and having no body of flesh to encumber them, they are capa- 
ble of putting forth mighty efforts in carrying out God's will. 
Hence they are called "mighty angels," and are said to 
"excel in strength." Their home has been the highest heav- 
ens ever since their creation, and as they have been permitted 
to appear in the immediate presence of God, to behold his 
beauty, and to see his holy, wise and sovereign goodness, as 



276 THE world's hope. 

the ages have rolled away, we can form no conception of how 
great their knowledge of God must be. Sinlessly pure, they 
are able the better to comprehend the greatness of Jehovah, 
and so bow before him in profound humility. 

We learn that the number of these holy ones is very great. 
"Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him." Our 
adorable Lord said that he could invoke to his aid, " More 
than twelve legions of angels ," and Paul speaks of them as "an 
innumerable company of angels." There seems to be different 
degrees of glory among them, as we read of " thrones, do- 
minions, principalities, and powers." And the angels Michael 
and Gabriel are spoken of as leaders among the heavenly 
throng. But they all "do His commandments, hearkening to 
the voice of his word." 

When the creating word called our world into existence, 
these holy beings sang forth their emotions of delight, yea 
shouted for joy, and all the way down the history of our 
planet, they have watched over the servants of the Lord, 
stimulating them to duty, and protecting them from dangers. 
The Psalmist tells us that they encamp around God-fearing 
people, for their deliverance; and that the Lord gives his 
angels charge over them. They have often been sent forth as 
ministers of destruction, as well as of mercy. They are never 
idle, for they not only praise God in strains to mortal ears un- 
known, but are quick as the flash of the lightning to go forth 
on his errands. These holy angels have taken a great interest 
in the plan of salvation. Though they need no Savior them- 
selves, they rejoice in the love shown to us, in God's unspeak- 
able gift. They announced our Lord's incarnation to Joseph 
and Mary ; and to the shepherds told of his birth in songs of 
rapture, the echo of which still sounds around our globe, 
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
to men." Yea, God's command to the angels concerning his 
Son was, " Let all the angels of God worship him." And they 
did worship him, with all the power of their pure natures. 

During the whole of our blessed Lord's sojourn on earth, 
these holy angels waited upon him. After his temptation in the 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THC SUCCESSION. 277 

wilderness, after his agony in the garden, and on other occa- 
sions, angels ministered to him. It was one of them that 
rolled away the stone from the sepulchter, and when oar Lord 
was taken up to glory, two shining ones appeared to the apos- 
tles, and told of his coming again to this earth. 

These holy ones take a great interest in the spiritual well- 
being of Christians. They rejoice over their conversion ; and 
in regard to young converts, our Lord says, " Take heed that 
ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto yoUj that 
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father 
which is in heaven." And when Christians die, we learn from 
the case of Lazarus, that they carry their souls to their future 
glorious home. 

And when the great day of judgment shall come, the angels 
shall be our Lord's attendants. Yea, they are to herald his 
approach, for Jesus says, " He shall send his angels with a 
great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his 
elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the 
other." And it is evident that they are to have something to 
do in carrying out the sentence that is to be pronounced from 
the great white throne. 

Have we reason to believe that these celestial beings are 
employed in the affairs of earth, as of old ^ I have no doubt 
of it. We may be assured that they are not idle, and surely 
this sin-cursed world is not now independent of their aid. It 
may suit the purposes of the poet to represent their agency in 
human affairs, as only a beautiful picture of the imagination, 
and to speak of their visits as "few and far between. '" But 
God's word represents them as constantly near us, interested 
in our movements, watching for our welfare, and often putting 
forth kind and active exertions for our good. If the veil could 
only be taken from our eyes, as in the case of Elisha's servant, 
we would be astonished at their numbers around us, and con- 
founded at our own unbelief Let us seek to imitate these 
holy beings in their steady obedience to the will of their 
Lord; and seek so to live in their presence and in the pres- 
ence of their Lord, as we shall wish we had when we come to 
stand amid the realities of eternity. 



278 THE world's hope. 

We now come to near the closing scenes of Elisha's life. 

The inhabitants of Samaria, being besieged, were perishing by- 
famine. The prophet predicted that day there would be a 
great plenty in the city. One of the courtiers ridiculed this 
assertion, and was told that he would see it, yet perish in the 
midst of the plenty. For upwards of sixty years from the 
time of his appointment to his high office, he went on to fulfill 
its high duties with untiring zeal. At last his release came. 
Among the weeping friends that stood around his death-bed 
was Joash, the king. Though not translated in the body, he 
had a triumphant entry into the heavenly kingdom. 

Let us serve his Lord as he did, with zeal and fidelity. We 
may not be known far from our homes, but nothing honestly 
said or done for God can be lost. This is beautifully brought 
out by the following lines by Dr. Bonar : 

" Up and away, like the dew of the morning, 
Soaring from earth to its home in the sun- 
So let me steal away, gently and lovingly, 
Only remembered by what I have done. 

" My name and my place and my tomb, all forgotten, 
The brief race of time well and patieiitly run. 
So let me pass away, peacefully, silently, 
Only remembered by what I have done, 

" Gladly away from this toil would I hasten. 
Up to the crown that for me has been won; 
Unthought of by man in rewards or in praises, 
Only remembered by what I have done. 

" Up and away, like the odors of sunset, 

That sweeten the twilight as darkness comes on, — 
So be my life, — a thing felt but not noticed, 
And I but remembered by what I have done. 

"Yes, like the fragrance that wanders in freshness, 

When the flowers that it came from are closed up and gone, — 
So would I be to this world's weary dwellers. 
Only remembered by what I have done. 



ELISHA, THE PROPHET OF THE SUCCESSION. 279 

" Needs there the praise of the love-written record, 
The name and the epitaph graven on the stone ? 
The things we have lived for, — let them be our story. 
We ourselves but remembered by what we have done. 

" I need not be missed, if my life has been bearing 
(As its summer and autumn moved silently on) 
The bloom, and the fruit, and the seed of its season; 
I shall still be remembered by what I have done. 

" I need not be missed, if another succeed me, 

To reap down those fields which in spring I have sown; 
He who ploughed and who sowed is not missed by the reaper. 
He is only remembered by what he has done. 

" Not myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken, 
Not myself, but the seed that in life I have sown, 
Shall pass on to ages, — all about me forgotten, 

Save the truth I have spoken, the things I have done. 

♦' So let my living be, so be my dying ; 

So let my name lie, unblazoned, unknown ; 
Upraised and unmissed, I shall still be remembered ; 
Yes, — but remembered by what I have done," 



28o THE world's HOPE. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 

Daniel was one of the children of the captivity. Isaiah had 
prophesied, " Thy sons shall be chamberlains in the palace of 
the King of Babylon," and little more than a century had 
passed when this prophecy was fulfilled. The people of Israel, 
with their king, nobles and priests were carried into captivity, 
and out of those of princely birth were chosen four to serve 
in the court of the king of Babylon. One of these was Dan- 
iel, a man who towers up before us, preeminent for the great- 
ness of his soul — the grandeur of his moral nature. 

As drawn before us by the pen of inspiration, he appears 
a faultless character. We do not mean to say that he was a 
sinless man, for he had to be saved by grace, like all that ever 
have been saved. But he stands up before the ages as they 
pass, a bright example of what God's grace can build up out 
of the ruins of our moral nature ; a lofty, generous, pure and 
true man; anxious to live in love and peace with all, and yet 
firm as a rock, where any principle of right was involved ; will- 
ing to obey those that had authority over him, and ready to 
conciliate his captors in every way consistent with truth and 
righteousness ; but all the kings of the earth, and all the ter- 
rors that power can accumulate, could not make him swerve 
one hair's breadth from the obedience wliich he owed to the 
great King of kings. The fact that such a man lived in our 
world has proved a blessing to our common humanity, and his 
very name and example brings strength and comfort to the 
tempted and the tried. 

It should be remembered that Daniel was quite young when 
brought into this heathenish court, not more than eighteen 
years ; and this makes his noble resistance of wrong and his 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 281 

bold Stand for the right all the more wonderful. In order that 
he and his companions might be fit to appear before the king, 
according to oriental notions, they are to be taught the lan- 
guage of the Chaldeans, and to be put through a course of 
physical and intellectual training. It was usual for them du- 
ring this training to eat of the meat and drink of the wine 
brought from the king's table, in order that they might appear 
ruddy. But Daniel wished to be faithful to the law of his God 
and the teachings of his fathers in regard to meats and drinks. 
He would not defile himself by indulging appetite at the ex- 
pense of conscience. Some might call it bigotry and making 
a great deal of little things ; but such people are in great dan- 
ger of making great things little. When people get into the 
habit of sitting in judgment upon God's commands, and reject 
one because it is little, and choose another because it is great, 
they will soon set up their own judgment as the standard of 
right and wrong in all things. " He that trusteth to his own 
heart is a fool." A thus saith the Lord, is to be our rule in 
everything. 

Daniel obtained leave from the officer who had charge of 
their education, to use as the food and drink for himself and 
companions, only pulse and water ; and so well did they thrive 
upon this that their appearance indicated better health and 
vigor than those who had been fed from the king's table. 
Hence, when brought up for examination, Daniel and his three 
companions were chosen to the high post of waiting upon the 
king's person. 

Thus religion is profitable for both worlds, for this world and 
for the world to come. A strict compliance with the injunc- 
tions of the Bible is as good for the health of the body as foi 
that of the soul. The fruit of the spirit is temperance, as well 
as other excellencies; and we are enjoined not to defile oui 
bodies, from the high and solemn consideration that they are 
the temples of the Holy Spirit. We see in this young man 
the triumph of religious principle over the lusts of the flesh, 
a firm regard to God's will, even when the doing of that will 
is going to cost some sacrifice ; and all this gives us an assur- 



252 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

ance that his future life will be marked by the same spirit of 
unflinching trust in the right. Instead cf daring to stand up 
for God and right, suppose that he had yielded to the custom 
of Babylon, that one false step would have led to others ; and 
having begun to yield, he would have gone on till his pathway 
would have been that which leads to hell. 

Those who honor God he delights to honor. The spirit of 
prophetic power came upon Daniel about this time ; so that 
while he was being taught of men the duties of the court he 
was taught of heaven to read the mysteries of the future, and 
to draw before the eyes of men inspired pictures of things yet 
to be. God imparted to him such a spirit of wisdom that 
when brought into contrast with the wisdom of earth, was as 
much superior as the sun in his noon-day glory is to the glim- 
mer of a rush-light. That Daniel was a true prophet of the 
Lord is evident from the fact that Jesus and the inspired apos- 
tles, speak of him as such ; especially Paul refers to his predic- 
tions. He bears a clear testimony to Christ as the Messiah, 
the great work that he should do, and the blessed and glorious 
kingdom that he should set up. 

At this time the kingdom of Babylon was the greatest among 
the nations of the world. All others had to acknowledge its 
greatness, and some of them had to bow to its supremacy and 
submit to be its slaves. All was prosperous so far as external 
observation could discern, when a strange restlessness — a fear- 
ful foreboding of coming evil began to oppress the spirit of 
the king, Nebuchadnezzar. Restlessly he tossed upon his bed, 
unable to find that sleep that came unsought to the poorest of 
his subjects. " His spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake 
from him." When he did sleep a fearful vision of the night 
alarmed him. In the morning the dream was forgotten in its 
distinct outlines, though the horror it had caused still weighed 
down his soul. He sends for his astrologers and magicians, a 
class of imposters that they dignified with the title of wise 
men, and with promises of rich presents, commands them to 
tell him his dream and its interpretation. And to show 
the despotic character of the man, if they failed in this, their 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 283 

lives were to be forfeited. Of course, the wise men failed, and 
the tyrannical king was furious, and commanded them to be 
destroyed. Daniel, having learned these particulars, enters the 
king's presence and asks for time, that he may show the inter- 
pretation of the dream. This is granted, and gathering his 
three companions, they pour out their hearts in prayer for wis- 
dom to be given from on high. Nor did they plead in vain. 
The secret is revealed to this young servant of God, and he 
hastens to state his readiness for an interview. 

The time has come, and the Jewish exile stands before the 
sovereign of a great empire ; the king unhappy in the midst of 
his riches 'and luxuries, but the poor captive happy in his God. 
He is at great pains to impress upon the king that no honor is 
due to him, but all the glory is God's, " There is a God in 
heaven that revcaleth secrets." The monarch is all solemn 
attention, for part by part the vision of the night is repro- 
duced, and then the interpretation is given with all faithful- 
ness and fidelity. We can not go into the whole of this striking 
vision, at present ; but there is one part that demands atten- 
tion. It is the stone cut out of the mountain without hands, 
first breaking the image into pieces, and then increasing until 
it fills the whole earth. Daniel's words are ; " Forasmuch as 
thou sawest this stone, the great God hath made known to the 
king what shall come to pass hereafter ; and the dream is cer- 
tain, and the interpretation thereof sure. In the days of these 
kings shall the God qf heaven set up a kingdom which shall 
never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other 
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these king- 
doms, and it shall stand forever." 

This stone is no doubt the kingdom of Christ, hewn out of 
the quarry of our poor sunken, sinful human nature, without 
hands, that is, not by the power of man, but by the power of 
God. This kingdom is composed of holy spiritual subjects, 
vho take Christ as their king, and who depend upon his gra- 
cious promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
Ihem. The kingdoms of this world may rise and fall, and the 
kings that reigned over them may strut their little hour, and, 



284 THE world's hope. 

puffed up with a lofty conception of themselves and their 
power, look coldly, it may be contemptuously, on the cause of 
Christ ; but as the winds of the coming winter sweep the dead 
leaves before them, so kingdoms and kings that once filled the 
earth with their fame have been swept into a common grave ; 
but Christ's kingdom goes on conquering and to conquer. 
Ridicule and contempt, proscription and persecution, the 
flashes of genius and the ravings of vulgar blasphemy, have all 
been tried against this kingdom ; but it not only stands un- 
shaken, but hastens to fill the whole earth with its glory. 

The king was much impressed with Daniel's interpretation, 
recognizing not only his wisdom, but fell down before the Eter- 
nal God, saying, " Of a truth, your God is a God of Gods» 
and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets." He con- 
fered many honors upon Daniel, and made him ruler of the 
province of Babylon. This last honor he asked might be con- 
fered upon his three companions instead of himself; which 
was done. Byvthis means the condition of the Jewish captives 
was rendered more comfortable. When men of true piety are 
in power the people have reason to rejoice; but when power 
and wickedness are united the people mourn. Only suppose 
that Satan had unlimited power for one day, and what a hell 
our world would become ! 

To trust in an arm of flesh is sure to bring disappointment ; 
and if history has taught us one lesson more emphatically than 
another, it is the unreliableness of the favor of kings. " If I 
had served my God as faithfully as I have served my king," 
said a disappointed statesman, " he would not forsake me now." 
How strange that men will put confidence in the word of their 
fellow men, and yet speak as if the faith that saves the soul, 
which is just taking God at his word, was a very difficult 
thing. This is beautifully illustrated in the following : 

" It was a time of some spiritual awakening in a small man- 
ufacturing town: The foreman in a department of one of the 
factories became anxious about his soul. He was directed to 
Christ as the sinner's only refuge by many, and by his own 
master among the rest ; but it seems to be without result. At 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT 285 

last his master thought of reaching his mind and bringing him 
to see the sincerity of God in the gospel by writing a note, 
asking him to come and see him at six o'clock, after he left 
' the work.' 

" He came promptly, with the letter in his hand. When 
ushered into the room his master inquired, ' Do you wish to 
see me, James .''' • 

" James was confounded, and holding up the note requesting 
him to come, said, 'The letter ! the letter!' 

" ' Oh,' said his master, ' I see you believed that I wanted to 
see you. When I sent you the message you came at once.' 

" ' Surely, sir ! surely sir !' replied James. 

" ' Well, see, here is another letter sending for you, by one 
equally in earnest,' said his master, holding up a slip of paper 
with some texts of scripture written on it. 

' James took the paper and began to read slowly, ■ Come — 
unto — me — all — ye — that — labor,' etc. His lips quivered, his 
eyes filled with tears, and, like to choke with emotion, he 
thrust his hand into his jacket pocket, grasped his large red 
handkerchief, with which he covered his face, and then he 
stood for a few moments, not knowing what to do. At length 
he inquired : 

" ' Am I just to believe that in the same way I believe your 
letter.^' 

"'Just in the same way,' rejoined the master. 'If we 
receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater.' 

" This expedient was owned of God in setting James at liberty. 
He was a happy believer that very night, and has continued to 
go on his way rejoicing in God his Savior, to point others to 
Calvary, and walk in the narrow way." 

A few years had passed, during which time the arms of 
Nebuchadnezzar had been quite successful. This so filled his 
heart with pride that he forgot all his fair promises to Daniel, 
and returned to idol worship with increased zeal and bigotry. 
He took the spoils that he had obtained in his wars and made 
a golden image, setting it up in the plain of Dura, and com- 
manding all the rulers and the people to worship it, on pain of 



286 THE world's HOPE. 

death. This image was about three-score cubits, that is 
about ninety feet, in height ; and six cubits, or about nine feet, 
in breadth. A proclamation was issued calling upon " the 
princes, the governors and captains, the judges, the treasurers, 
the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces," 
not only to attend the dedication of this image, but at the 
iBOund of the musical instruments mentioned, to bow down 
and worship it. Should any refuse to do this, they were in 
the same hour to be cast into the midst of a burning fiery fur- 
nace. 

The appointed day has come and the great assembly is con- 
vened, when it is reported to the king that the three Hebrews 
whom he had appointed over the province of Babylon had 
refused to worship his image; these were Daniel's compan- 
ions, named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. In a tower- 
ing rage the tyrant calls them before him, repeats his decree, 
and tells them the punishment that must follow disobedience 
to his will. They answer respectfully, but firmly, " Be it 
known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor 
worship the golden image which thou hast set up." At this the 
king commanded the furnace to be heated seven times more 
than it was wont, and that these men, with their clothes upon 
them, should be cast into the flames. 

Now comes the time of exciting trial. There is the great 
king surrounded by his flatterers, the officers of his govern- 
ment, and his victorious army. And yet his. power is defied 
by thes'e three children of God. Religion is a matter purely 
between God and the conscience of man, and never do hu- 
man governments make themselves, more contemptible than 
when they undertake to dictate what man shall believe and 
how he shall worship. It is a good man's duty to obey the 
laws of the government under which he lives, as far as these 
laws do not interfere with the duty he owes to his God ; but 
the moment that they do this, he is bound to obey God rather 
than man. This is the principle upon which good men have 
acted in every age of the world. Men might crush their 
bodies with torture, their affections with imprisonment, and 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 287 

their good name with infamous charges, but they could not 
crush out of them the determination to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own conscience, enlightened by the 
word of truth. 

The furnace is flaming at its highest pitch, and mto it are 
cast these Hebrew exiles. So furious are the flames that the 
very men who were the instruments of the tyrant's will, in 
casting them into the furnace, are burned to death. But, see ! 
astonishment and alarm gather upon the face of the king. 
Gazing into the furnace for some time, he turns to his attend- 
ants and says, " Did not we cast three men bound into the 
midst of the fire?" "True, O king!" was the reply. He 
then told them that he saw four men walking unhurt in the 
midst of the fire, and that one of them is like the Son of God. 
Yes, blessed Savior, thou hast never left thy dear people alone 
in their troubles ! Prisons and ' dens and caves of the earth 
have been illuminated by the light of thy countenance ; and 
thou hast made sick beds and beds of flame easy as a bed of 
down to thy dying saints and martyrs. 

We can conceive with what a feeling of shame and remorse 
the king uttered these words : *' Ye servants of the Most High 
God, come forth." They did so, showing themselves unhurt, 
before the whole multitude, not even the smell of fire upon 
their garments. This miracle must have produced a great 
change in public opinion. We hear no more of the great 
golden image, nor the universal worship which it was to receive. 
But the king publishes a decree, that any one speaking a word 
against the God of these three men should be cut in pieces, 
*' Because there is no other God that can deliver after this 
sort." 

Now, he had a right to exalt the name of Jehovah above 
idols, and to do all he could to glorify his name, but he had no 
right to use his power to compel people to think as he did. 
He had no more right to kill men for not worshiping the God 
of heaven than he had to kill them for not worshiping his idol. 
How hard it has been, in every age, for men in power to under- 
stand the true doctrine of religious liberty. Hence, whenever 



288 ' . THE world's HOPE. 

the state has taken even true religion under her protection and 
patronage, a spirit of intolerance begins to show itself, very- 
injurious to the cause of Christ. Secular governments should 
not interfere in religion any further than to see that all have 
the liberty to worship God according to their consciences. 

In these three Hebrews we see a fine example of true decis- 
ion of character. Christian decision is always exercised with 
a special reference to God's holy will. Mere natural decision 
is a man adhering to a course that is marked out by his own 
will. Such men often pursue a course without any regard to 
its being right or wrong, but only because they have resolved 
upon it. The Christian is firm and resolved, because God has 
spoken. In matters of small moment, where God has given 
no direct intimation of his will, it is our duty to yield. In 
this we can be all things to all men, like Paul, to gain men into 
a right spirit of peace and love ; but in regard to things im- 
portant in religion; and all is important that God has com- 
manded, the Christian is to be firm and unyielding 

Christian firmness does not trouble itself much about con- 
sequences. It does not ask what will people think of me if I 
do this, or what effect will it have upon my business if I do 
that. It asks only, is it God's will ? and if so, it must be done. 
This gives a oneness and a uniformity to the good man's course. 
You know where to find him. He is not one thing to-day and 
another to-morrow. He is reliable, for he acts from a fixed 
and unchangeable rule ; that is, the will of God that changes 
never. 

Nebuchadnezzar had another dream, which filled him with 
terror. The vision was that of a great tree growing in the 
midst of the earth, towering up to the heavens, and its branches 
stretching to the ends of the earth. In it the fowls of the air 
dwelt, and under it the beasts of the field found shelter. But 
"a watcher, even a holy one," approaches the tree, and in a 
loud voice cries, " Hew down this tree, cut off its branches, 
shake off its leaves and scatter its fruit ; let the beasts get away 
from under it, and the fowls from its branches ; only leave its 
stump in the earth, bound about with iron and brass." 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 289 

Daniel is sent for to interpret as before. The matter filled 
him with astonishment, and "his thoughts troubled him," we 
are told. He faithfully told the king that the fall of this great 
tree was emblematic of his own downfall. That by insanity 
he was to be driven from the abodes of men and made to herd 
with the beasts of the field; that this state of things would 
continue for seven years; and he urged the proud monarch to 
repentance, and to turn to the Lord by works meet for re- 
pentance. But worldly prosperity had completely hardened 
his heart. It made him feel independent of God. 

An English magazine tells us that the butchers of London 
have great difficulty in driving a flock of sheep through the 
crowded streets. They are apt to get scattered in all direc- 
tions. To avoid this they take a sheep that has been petted 
till it loves its owner, and has got so used to the crowded streets 
that it will go after him anywhere. This one is used as a 
decoy to a whole flock. The owner puts it at the head of the 
flock that he wants to take to the slaughter-house, and they 
follow it to their destruction. Thus Satan has many decoys to 
lead souls to hell, and one of the most common and successful 
of these is the love of the world. A little more, and then they 
are going to be satisfied; but the satisfaction never comes ; 
instead thereof comes an awful hardness of heart, a proud, 
dark contempt of everything sacred, the harbinger of eternal 
death. '* 

About a year after the king had been warned by the vision 
and by Daniel, he was walking in his palace and thinking of 
all his vast power and the greatness of his kingdom, when he 
exclaimed, " Is not this great Babylon that I have builded, by 
the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ?" 
The proud boast has scarcely left his lips till a voice from 
heaven told him that God's predicted time of judgment had 
come, and in a moment he becomes as a beast. For seven 
years he lives in this degraded condition, wheif his reason was 
again restored to him, and looking up in humility to the great 
God of heaven, and acknowledging his hand in the whole mat- 
ter, he was again restored to his throne. By public proclama- 



290 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

tion he owned his guilt, and the great goodness of God in his 
restoration. At last he died, and his grandson, Belshazzar, 
ascended the throns in his stead. 

The terrible judgments that were sent to his grandfather had 
no effect upon him ; for he entered upon a career of idolatry, 
blasphemy and licentiousness that makes us truly thankful that 
his reign was a short one. He had been defeated in battle by 
Cyrus, and for two years had been besieged in Babylon. De- 
fended by massive walls and bulwarks, by gates of brass and 
the great river Euphrates, and having provisions enough to last 
for twenty years, he feared neither God nor man, but gave 
himself up to the gratification of his lusts. 

One night be made a feast, conducted with all the oriental 
display that he could command. He gathered around his fes- 
tal board a thousand of his lords, with his wives and concu- 
bmes, and the grandees of his great empire. All that could 
administer to the lust of the flesh was there. The wine ex- 
cited them to madness, and a roar of mirth and revelry went 
forth from the excited throng. The king ordered the vessels 
of gold and silver, which his grandfather had taken from ,God's 
house at Jerusalem, to be brought out that he and his drunken 
crew might drink out of them to the honor of their vile gods. 
It was a fearful act of sacrilege, for these vessels had been con- 
secrated to the service of the great God, and had often been 
used by holy men in his worship ; and now to be used by these 
wicked wretches in their abominable orgies, was an insult to 
the Most High. 

But see ! All at once the king turns pale and trembles in 
excessive terror. The excited laugh of the drunkard has died 
away upon his lips, and left his heart quaking under a horror, 
all the more dreadful that it is undefined. He starts from his 
seat and fixes his eyes in a wild stare upon the wall. All are 
now filled with dread, and their eyes following that of the king 
see the hand of an invisible being writing some mysterious 
words upon the wall : " Mene, mene, Tekel, Upharsin," 
were the words, and it was in vain that the magi were called, 
for they could not explain them. The king's consternation 




THE CAPTIVE MAIDEX. 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 291 

increasing, the queen, supposed to be his mother, remembers 
Daniel, and urges his being sent for. 

We can imagine the holy man of God coming into that haH 
and looking solemnly around on the wicked throng. The 
king offers him rich rewards, but he is there, not to please 
kings and nobles, not to be bought, but to speak God's trutli. 
Accordingly, with a quiet dignity he says, " Let thy gifts be t-© 
thyself, and give thy rewards to another." He then goes on 
to tell the king what God had done for Nebuchadnezzar, from 
which he had taken no warning ; and in most emphatic terms 
to rebuke his great wickedness. It is not often that royal ears 
listen to such a sermon. He then interpreted the words to 
mean, that his kingdom and reign was at an end, that he had 
been weighed in the balance and found wanting. 

That very night the city was taken. Two deserters told 
Cyrus how it might be taken ; that by drying up the waters of 
the Euphrates, that ran beneath the powerful walls of the city, 
an entrance could be accomplished and the city secured by sur- 
prise. This was done, the king slain, and his kingdom divided. 

Darius now reigned in Babylon, and proceeded to make new 
arrangements in regard to the government. Daniel was at 
once exalted to a position of great honor and power. This 
was done because the king saw that " an excellent spirit was 
in him." But this very eminence to which he was lifted up, 
made him an object of envy .and hatred to some. The more 
holy and upright he was, the more such vile men would hate 
him. They were maddened with rage to think that they could 
not find something on which to found a complaint against him, 
to the king. Unable to find anything against him in regard to 
his moral character, or the discharge of his civil duties, they 
turned to his religion. This is very instructive. After watch- 
ing him closely, their keen espionage being sharpened by 
intense hatred, they could not find a single act or word or 
event in his life, that could be charged as wrong. The only 
thing that they could charge against him was that he was a 
praying man — praying three times a day to. the God of 
heaven ! 



292 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

A plan for Daniel's destruction is now formed. A concourse 
of his enemies assemble at the palace, and ask the king to pass 
a decree according to the law of the Medes and Persians. 

This decree was to be to the effect, that for thirty days no 
person in the whole realm should ask anything of either God 
or man, except of Darius, the king ; and any violation of this 
absurd decree was to be punished by the offender being cast 
into the den of lions. It is to be presumed that the king did 
not for a moment suppose that this would, in any way affect 
Daniel to his injury ; and as it was flattering to his pride, it 
was at once sent forth in due form. We see them come forth 
with the smirk of unholy triumph upon their faces. They 
chuckle among themselves, and congratulate each other upon 
their success in having the man they hate now in their power. 
Ah ! little did these wicked presidents and princes think that 
at that very time they were digging a pit for their own de- 
struction. 

Daniel hears of what has been done, but heeds it not. He 
goes calmly about his duties as before, and when the hour for 
his accustomed devotion arrives he goes up to his house and 
prays as usual, with his face toward Jerusalem. He knew that 
his enemies were watching for evil : but along with that as- 
surance was another, that the God of the universe was watch- 
ing him for good. It may be thought by some that as God 
can hear prayer anywhere, he might have gone into a secret 
place, where all evidence of his violation of the decree that 
had been passed would have been wanting ; but this would 
have been acting on a false expediency. No kings, nor 
princes, nor presidents had aright to, come between him and 
his God — to dictate when he should or should not pray; and 
he goes on as if no such dictation had been attempted. What 
a noble, God-like character ! He stands up before us a bright 
example for all ages, of a bold Christian consistency ; and of 
what it is to trust God, when every other trust has failed. 

'• So should we live that every hour 
May die as dies the natural flowe- 
A self-reviving thing of power ; 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 293 

" That every thought and every deed 
May hold within itself the seed 
Of future good and future need." 

The enemies of the prophet hastened again to the palace to 
accuse him to the king. He had prayed to the God of heaven, 
they said, and thus set at defiance the monarch's authority. 
The king now all at once began to see the snare that had been 
set, and, greatly vexed with himself, he tried to discover some 
way by which the prophet could be saved ; but by the inflexi- 
ble nature of the law this was not possible. Daniel is, there- 
fore, cast into the den of lions, and a stone is placed at the 
mouth of the den, with the royal seal upon it. 

There he remains during the whole night ; in all likelihood 
the happiest night of his life. Oh, what thoughts of God's 
great goodness he must have had when he saw those wild ani- 
mals crouching at his feet ! That heavenly Frieixd, who had 
showered down blessings all along his pathway through life, 
had now given such manifest tokens of his love, that his whole 
soul must have overflowed with a peace that could make 
even a lion's den the gate of heaven. Not only had he the 
presence of God during that memorable night, but the com- 
panionship of holy angels also; and he enjoyed a happiness 
to which the greatest and richest of his enemies were alto- 
gether strangers. 

The king, who had spent a restless night, hastens to the 
lion's den at the dawn of day, and cries, " Daniel, O Daniel, 
servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest con- 
tinually, able to deliver thee from the lions ?" 

The voice of the prophet was at once heard in reply, " O 
king, live forever ! My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut 
the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me ; forasmuch as 
before him innocency was found in me ; and also before thee, 
O king, have I done no hurt." The king was rejoiced e3c- 
ceedingly that the incorruptible statesman, who had served 
him so well, was still alive ; and, although Daniel had pre- 
sented no complaint against those who had treated him so 
wickedly, yet the same destruction which they had prepared 



294 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

for him came upon themselves, they were devoured by the 
wild beasts 

Here we have another instance of the power of the prayer 
of faith. Such prayer is always answered ; while that prayer 
that is mingled with distrust and doubt, receives nothing. Our 
blessed Lord sets this in so clear a light that his words should 
be engraven upon our hearts, 'AH things whatsoever ye shall 
ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. ' And again, "What 
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them ' These passages seem very plain ; 
and yet when Mr. Miiller. and a few others like him, act as if 
these words were to be taken as literally true, the Christian 
world looks astonished, and speaks as if a mistake had been 
made in some way. No. there is no mistake in taking God at 
his word . and that faith that does so, he honors now as much 
as he did in the days of Daniel. 

Who can read the ninth chapter of the book that is called 
by this prophet s name without seeing that he was a man 
mighty in prayer ? We find that he had given himself up to 
study the prophecies of Jeremiah in regard to the close of 
the captivity, He saw that that time was at hand, and by 
fasting and deep humiliation before God, he betakes himself 
to prayer And O, such a prayer ! We seem to see his tears of 
penitence, and to hear his sighs and his groans poured forth from 
his earnest heart, as he pleaded for himself and the ancient peo- 
ple of the Lord Such confession of sin, such laying open of 
the soul, in all its vileness, before the eye of Infinite purity; 
such a broken-hearted melting of the soul, in awe before the 
great and dreadful God, makes us ashamed of what we have 
called our prayers. And then, such terrible earnestness, such 
fervent importunity as we have in this prayer ! We seem to 
see him getting nearer God every cry that breaks from his 
agonizing soul, till he feels that he has prevailed. " O Lord, 
hear ; O Lord, forgive ; O Lord, hearken and do ; defer not, for 
thy own sake.'' We feel that this is not mere repeating of 
words, but that every cry of the soul is a new victory of faith. 
And, sweeping from the heavens, comes the angel Gabriel, to tell 
him that his prayer is answered. 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 295 

Of the prophecies of this man " greatly beloved oi God," 
we cannot now speak. They are full of the coming Messiah, 
and in images the most sublime and glorious, tell of the time 
when his kingdom of love shall triumph over all opposition. 
Of the time and the place of his death we know nothing. He 
has long been a bright, happy spirit in glory ; but his influence 
is still very mighty on earth. His life is a fit study for young 
and old. A noble statesman, an invincible patriot, an un- 
daunted hero, a mighty prevailer in prayer, a prophet, great 
in the sight of God and man ; we feel our hearts glow at 
the mention of his name ; and it adds to the attractions of 
heaven, that he is there, and that '"e shall join him in praising 
God and the Lamb for ever. 

*' The king was on his throne, 

The satraps thronged the hall ; 
A thousand bright lamps shone 

O'er that high festival. 
A thousand cups of gold, 

In Judah deemed divine— >^ 
Jehovah's vessels hold 

The godless heathen's wine ! 

" In that same hour and hall, 

The fingers of a hand 
Came forth against the wall, 

And wrote as if on sand: 
The fingers of a man — 

A solitary hand 
Along the letters ran, 

And traced them like a wand. 

" The monarch saw, and shook. 
And bade no more rejoice ; 
All bloodless waxed his look, 
And tremulous his voice. 
' Let the men of lore appear. 

The wisest of the earth, 
And expound the words of fear, 
That mar our royal mirth.' 



296 > THE world's hope 

" Chaldea's seers are good, 

But here they have no skill ; 
And the unknown letters stood, 

Untold and awful still. 
And Babel's men of age 

Are wise and deep in lore ; 
But now they were not sage, 

They saw, but knew no more. 

" A captive in the land, 

A stranger and a youth, 
He heard the king's command 

He saw that writing's truth. 
The lamps around were bright, 

The prophecy in view ; 
He read it on that night — 

The morrow proved it true. 

" Belshazzar's grave is made, 

His kingdom passed away, 
He in the balance weighed, 

Is light and worthless clay. 
The shroud, his robe of state, 

His canopy, the stone. 
The Mede is at his gate ! 

The Persian on his throne." 



It has thus been our happy privilege to go over the most 
notable examples of faith recorded in the old Testament. As 
these noble men, of whom the world was not worthy, have 
passed in review before us, we should earnestly seek to have 
like precious faith with theirs. We may be encompassed with 
ten thousand trials; but if, like thein, we only have faith and 
patience, we shall be brought through triumphantly. We 
shall meet in heaven those men of strong faith, and join with 
them in singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. 

" E'en now by faith we join our hands 
With those that went before, 
And greet the blood-besprinkled band 
On the eternal shore." 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 297 

One thing we can not but have noticed, in the course of our 
meditations upon these holy men, faith enabled them to see 
God everywhere. They did not long go groping around the 
world in darkness and despondency, crying, " O that I knew 
where I might find him!" Faith found him, through the 
blood of their sacrifices, pointing to Calvary, and knew him 
to be a God of Love. To such faith the whole world was full 
of God. As they walked by the side of the murmuring 
streams and sheltered themselves in the caves of the moun- 
tains and heard the rush of the wind through the swaying, 
bowing pines, they heard the voice of Jehovah speaking to 
them in accents of love. Amid scenes of prosperity and 
sweet domestic endearments, they found their highest enjoy- 
ments in God ; or, when exiles from home and country, they 
wandered in dreary deserts, or sat on the banks of strange 
rivers, with songs dying away into sighs and groans ; yet God 
was their refuge and their strength. 

Reader, do you find God everywhere, in this way ? In the 
dark, dense, solemn forest, or in the rush of" the city, where 
the sound of sin and suffering, of business and selfish clamor, 
never dies by night nor by, day; can you be still and know 
your God .'' Do you walk with God, in a loving, cheerful, 
willing way, as the loving child does with its father, feeling its 
highest joy in his approving smile .'' If so, happy are ye, for 
you shall soon be with the sinless congregation above, and 
your faith be lost in the fullness of glorified vision. 

Paul, in speaking of the good who have gone before us and 
set us an example, says, "Be not slothful, but followers of 
them who, through faith and patience inherjt the promises." 
It was upon these promises that the ancient people of God 
lived. They are the pledges which Jehovah gave to them, 
and by faith in which they were sustained all through the 
wilderness. These promises are God's storehouse opened to 
his people, into which they can go, and get all their wants sup. 
plied. They are a rich treasury of blessings, and if we are 
poor, we may be enriched, for faith holds the key. 

These promises arc for this life and for the life to come. 



298 THE world's hope. 

To the guilty they offer pardon ; to the soul struggling with 
indwelling guilt, they offer the cleansing of the precious blood 
of Jesus; to the weary and heavy-laden they offer rest in 
Jesus — the sweet repose of the spirit when sins are all forgiven ; 
to the sorrowful they offer comfort, not such as the world 
gives, but real heart-ease, when the head is resting upon the 
bosom of Jesus. And then what a glorious prospect these 
promises open before us for the future ! A victory over the 
last enemy, death ; a home of eternal bliss, with all the com- 
pany of the redeemed ; a resurrection of the flesh from the 
darkness and corruption of the grave, while the body shall be 
made like unto Christ's 'glorified body ; and then the word 
of approval, spoken before assembled worlds, "Well done, 
good and faithful servant." 

Such are the promises that the heroes of faith lived by and 
-died by. As an old writer says, " They are high as heaven 
and wide as the sea." They take all in, none are excluded. 
They are not for the rich only, nor for the poor only, but they 
are for all. And oh, how sure and steadfast they are ! Spoken 
by the God of truth, written in the blood of the covenant, 
sealed by the Holy Spirit, they are all yea and amen to the 
believer. The world's promises are vain; Satan's promises are 
plausible but deceitful; but God's promises are sure and 
steadfast. No contingency can occur that can interrupt the 
kindly flow of his loving intentions. His promises are the 
voluntary, spontaneous outcoming of his love ; and hence they 
are spoken in words so gentle and loving. 

No wonder that they are called " precious promises." God 
has scattered pnecious things through all his material works. 
Far away down ocean's bed, unseen by human eye, he ^ has 
treasured up precious things ; and away up to the very sum- 
mits of the cloud-topped mountains, they are to be found. 
But it is in God's Word that the most precious things come to 
view. The most precious things of earth are perishable, but 
the things which the Bible reveals become more valuable 
through all eternity. Precious blood, precious faith, precious 
promises, and precious mansions, are among the fair portions 
•God gives his people. 



DANIEL, THE PROPHET OF THE COURT. 299 

Now, those good men of whom we have been speaking are 
inheriting the promises. What they long looked for they now 
possess. They no longer look through a glass darkly, but see 
face to face. The things that they longed and earnestly looked 
for, they now enjoy. No longer tossed upon the stormy ocean 
of life, they are safe in the quiet harbor. The toils of the wil- 
derness are all over, and they rest at home. Let this comfort 
us. We have the same help that they had — the same strength 
and comfort. They met death in all forms, but they feared no 
evil. That last enemy was turned into a friend — into great 
gain. They were not merely calm in their last moments, but 
cheerful; not only resigned, but joyful and triumphant. By 
faith let us see our blessed inheritance awaiting our arrival ; 
and let the sight quicken our pace to glory. It is but a short 
step from a death-bed to a throne and a crown ! 



300 THE WORLD S HOPE. 



CHAPTER XX. 
STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 

As it is appointed unto all' to die, it is to us a matter of great 
moment to know how we may die well. This we can only 
learn at the Cross ; and it is encouraging and strengthening to 
our faith to see those who have been there pass away from 
earth peaceful as the going down of a summer sun. 

There is no death recorded in the Bible which, for moral 
sublimity, comes so near the death of our Lord as that of Ste- 
phen. Of course, there is no death really like that of Jesus. 
His life and his death stand alone ; for even an infidel had to 
say, " Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ like 
a God." Only a short time after Jesus died for our offenses, 
Stephen, very nearly on the same spot, was called to lay down 
his life for the truth. Both in his life and with his lips he bore 
testimony to the truth and then sealed it with his blood. He 
was the first of the Christian Church that fell under the bloody 
hand of persecution, and thus had the honor of leading the 
van of that noble army who are now crowned with immortal 
blessedness in heaven. Striving against error and sin, they 
resisted unto blood, and rose unto fame eternal by suffering — 
conquered by dying. 

Stephen was one of the first seven deacons ordained at Je- 
rusalem. These were to be men of honest report, and full of 
the Holy Spirit , and with this description this good man fully 
agreed. At that time the church was in a most prosperous 
condition. With a zealous, holy, heaven-taught mmistry, with 
a membership so spiritual and consistent that Jesus was not 
ashamed to call them brethren, and with a constant mcrease 
of young members glowing with love to Christ, the whole city 
was shaken by their moral power. Stephen stood in the front 
of the battle, dealing sturdy and vigorous blows to Satan's 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 301 

kingdom ; and, therefore, he soon became the object of the 
most rancorous hate and persecution. We are told that " full 
of faith and power, he did great wonders and miracles among 
the people." The enemies of God and of truth felt that this 
must not be allowed, and that something must be done to 
silence so able and zealous a preacher. 

They sent their most able and subtle disputants to put him 
down by argument. This was just what he wanted, for when 
did truth ever fear to meet error in fair discussion ? Christi- 
anity invites inquiry — courts the most rigid investigation ; and 
the most sifting and severe tests that science and logic can 
apply, only leave her friends the better pleased with the results, 
the more satisfied with the heavenly origin of that religion to 
which they have, in confidence of faith, committed their souls. 
As we might expect, in this conflict Stephen came off triumph- 
ant. He spoke with a wisdom and a power that astonished 
and confounded the enemies of truth. They were baffled and 
defeated at every attempt, and with the bright sword of truth 
flashing about their heads, were driven from the field. 

Now, had they been honest seekers after truth, this would 
have been the end of the matter; they would have acknowl- 
edged their error, with penitent hearts, and at once yielded 
themselves up to the guidance of the heavenly light that had 
been made to shine around them. But such was not their 
character. They were haters of God and of good men, and 
if the progress of the gospel can not be stopped in one way 
they will try another. Accordingly they betake themselves to 
the use of the vilest slanders and malicious misrepresentations, 
the chosen supports of every sinkmg cause. Vile wretches 
were hired to utter false accusations, and Stephen was dragged 
before the great council of the Sanhedrim that a show of justice 
might be gone through. '* We have heard him speak blas- 
phemous words against Moses and against God," said the 
false witnesses. In a court of justice the countenance of the 
accused is often looked upon to see if tokens of guilt or inno- 
cence can be distinguished there. At that moment Stephen's 
face would bear examination. It was neither inflamed with 



302 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

passion nor pale with fear. There dwelt upon it a look of 
calm faith and undisturbed confidence in God ; a look of 
meek, forgiving love united with inflexible firmness of purpose. 
It shone like an angel of God, as if the heaven he was so soon 
to be in, had sent out a few of its rays of glory to meet him 
on his way. The emotions of his happy soul illuminated his 
face, and give us some faint idea of what a glorified body will 
be. 

• When this good man stood forth in his own vindication, he 
appears a fine example of a faithful gospel minister. He is 
far more anxious to save their souls than to vindicate his own 
character. Some of those present might never hear the truth 
as it is in Jesus again, and he felt that he must speak out, even 
if his life should be the price of his faithfulness to their souls. 
Hence those strong, powerful, personal appeals to their he'arts 
and consciences. There are some ministers who may be said 
to preach the truth, but it is in a very general way. It is true 
as far as it goes, but it has no application to the people sitting 
before the preacher. It is preached before them rather than to 
them. There is nothing of " thou art the man " about it, 
This was not the way that John the Baptist preached to Herod, 
or the way that Stephen preached to the people in that court 
house. Such preaching as his will produce some effect, either 
in the way of softening the heart or of hardening it. It will 
prove a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death. It will 
either kindle resentment in the sinner's heart against the 
preacher who rebuked those sins, set them at war with them- 
selves or with the truth that smites the conscience. 

In the case of Stephen's hearers, they were filled with rage 
against their best friend because he told them the truth. As 
he charged them with resisting the Holy Spirit, as murderers 
of the holy Savior, they were lashed into a tempest of fierce 
passion and resentment. With glaring eyes " they gnashed 
upon him with their teeth," like wild beasts of prey. From 
such a mob, furious with diabolical rage, the saint of God 
knew that he had nothing good to expect. With such he could 
no more reason than with a whirlwind. How does he deport 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 303 

himself? Does he look to the council for protection and 
mercy ? Or does he look around the hall to find some mode 
of escape? No; nothing of that kind. He looked steadfastly 
up to heaven ; and from that look he gathered new vigor and 
strength for the great conflict in which he was engaged. It 
made him long to spring from earth into the bosom of his lov- 
ing Savior. There is often embodied in a single look a world 
of meaning and the most powerful eloquence. We remember 
the look from our Lord's loving eye that sent Peter out weep- 
ing bitterly, his heart melted into contrition under a convic- 
tion of his base ingratitude. The look of Stephen was an 
appeal to his adorable Lord. It said, " here I am doing thy 
work, suff"ering for thy cause, leave me not to my own strength, 
O my Lord, or I will fail!" 

What a glorious sight met his enraptured gaze, at that mo- 
ment ! No wonder that it fired and filled his soul with a di- 
vine transport. There lay revealed to his view the throne of 
Jehovah encircled with unspeakable glories ; and there stood 
the Savior, bending upon him a look of deepest affection 
and of sympathy. Nor could he keep the knowledge of this 
blessed sight locked up in his own heart. ''Behold," said he, 
" I'see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on 
the right hand of God." Observe, he saw him sta7iding; and 
yet it was said, "When he had by himself purged our sins, he 
sat doum on the right hand of the Majesty on high." And 
again, as an evidence that his work was accepted the Father 
said to him, " Sit on my right hand, till I make thy enemies 
thy footstool." But when Jesus looked down and saw the 
dauntless Stephen defending his cause single-handed, in the 
midst of bloody-minded men, he stood up to receive and to 
welcome the soul of his dear suffering child. Like Joseph 
with his brethren, he could no longer refrain himself. Oh, 
who can tell with what intense interest the Prince of Martyrs 
stood and gazed upon him who was proving faithful unto 
death ! Well might the martyr " rejoice in spirit " when he 
saw that Almighty gush of tenderness towards him. There 
he saw a Savior who more than died a thousand deaths for 



304 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

him, and whose loving heart, longing to have him a sharer of 
his glory, parted the sky asunder, and made the way to heaven 
ready, ere he was ready to enter. 

And now the madness of the mob has reached its height. 
Raging and roaring like the waves of the sea lashed by a 
furious tempest, they rushed upon Stephen. With faces all 
distorted by passion, they drag him out of the city, that they 
may stone him to death. The better to accomplish this bloody 
work they cast off their upper garments. And who is that 
young man that we see standing guard over that pile of cloth- 
ing ? He is not a direct actor in the murderous work of the 
hour, but he is giving his consent to it, and, to use his own 
words, is " exceeding mad " against the followers of the Lord 
Jesus. Had any one stepped up to him as he stood there, and, 
tapping him upon the shoulder, said, " Saul, you will soon be 
stoned yourself for the same cause for which that holy man is 
now laying down his life," he would have felt indignant at the 
imputation. But God's holy eye was upon him, and had 
chosen him to be a most distinguished preacher of his gospel, 
and at last to die for the truths he preached so faithfully. 

}kit let us not lose sight of the blessed martyr. Hark to 
those savage howls of these wicked men, and see the shower 
of stones that thick and fast fall upon him His body is 
bruised and bleeding, and, as an opening is for a moment 
made in the crowd, we see him with his eyes uplifted to 
heaven; and hark ! what words are these he utters? Ah! he 
is praying for his murderers ! What great things grace can 
do for our fallen humanity. Man by nature hates his enemies, 
and seeks to return blow for blow and curse for curse, to the 
very last hour of his life. But Stephen's words are, "Lord, 
lay not this sin to their charge." All who are Christ's own 
possess his spirit. They are like him in their longings and 
aspirations, and like him in their love to the souls of the vilest 
of our sin-cursed race. In our Lord's dying moments he 
prayed, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." And now here is one of his dear servants dying, with 
the same spirit of forgiving love upon his lips, and only there 
because it has welled up from his heart. 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 305 

But the dying saint uttered another prayer on this memora- 
ble occasion. Feeling that his- work was done, and his per- 
manent home very near, he cried, " Lord Jesus, receive my 
spirit," This is a plain evidence that he considered Christ a 
Divine Being, truly God, equal with the Father. We are told 
that Stephen was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy 
Spirit, and yet, if the Divinity of Christ is not acknowledged, 
then he must have died an idolator. No truth is clearer in 
the Bible than that worship is only to be offered to God, and 
here this devoted and highly enlightened Christian, offers hfs 
last prayer to Jesus. This is a clear proof that while he took 
upon him the nature of man, he was at the same time God 
over all, blessed forever. Stephen paid the same homage to 
the Redeemer, in his last moments, which Jesus himself did to 
his Father, when he was. departing from earth. And this fact 
reminds us of the words, " I and my Father are one." 

The expression used in regard to the death of this good 
man is quite beautiful: " He fell asleep." He was dying a 
very painful death, his body bruised, his bones broken, his 
skull fractured, perhaps his face fearfully disfigured and cov- 
ered with blood ; and yet, when the soul escaped from this 
tortured body, the inspired penman said it was like going to 
sleep. What a happy thought ! Just going to sleep as the 
weary child goes to sleep upon its mother's bosom ; or, as the 
laboring man goes to sleep after the exhausting toils of the 
day and forgets them all in peaceful repose. The sleep of the 
pious, with God's- ever wakeful eye keeping watch over them, 
according to the words, 'i He giveth his beloved sleep." So 
the dead in Christ, as far as their bodies are concerned, sleep 
under the watch-care of God, and at the fit time shall wake to 
immortal beauty and glory. 

"Asleep in Jesus ! blessed sleep, 

From which none ever wakes to weep — 

A calm and undisturbed repose, 

Unbroken by the last of foes. 
" Asleep in Jesus ! Oh, for me 

May such a blissful refuge be ; 

Securely shall my ashes lie, 

And wait the summons from on high." 



3o6 THE world's hope. 

The thought that God knows the time, the 'place, and tne 
manner of his death, is a very happy one to the believer in 
Jesus. None of these things are to happen by chance, but in 
accordance with a plan in the Divine Mind. Whether we are 
to die alone in the silent watches of the night, or with many 
loving and sympathizing friends around us ; whether our death 
shall be sudden, as in the case of the startling accident, that 
quick as the flash of lightning rends the body to pieces, and 
lets the soul escape ; or whether with slow and stealthy foot- 
steps, the work of years, disease shall lay us among the dead ; 
all is known to and planned by our best Friend ; one who loves 
us, and will surely do us no harm. Whether our body is to lie 
in the crowded city, or under the waving grass of the lonely 
country graveyard, or in that grandest of cemeteries, the vast 
ocean, with the furious dash of the mountain waves singing 
our requiem ; all shall be well, for even our dust shall be 
precious in His sight. 

Stephen's death, then, was a very happy one, notwithstand- 
ing the violence that attended it. He was filled with the Holy 
Spirit, and that made him calm and self-possessed. He could 
look an awful death quietly in the face. His soul rested at 
anchor on the untroubled sea of God's promises. He was 
confident of victory. His blessed Lord still lived, and that 
thought made him sure that he should live also. He would 
not be in glory and leave him behind. There are many who 
think that to be filled with the Spirit, to have a high state of 
religious enjoyment, and to be fervent in • spirit, must be a 
state of high wrought excitement ; but I do not think so. Look 
at Stephen. Calm, cool, deliberate, bold and fearless; not at 
all excited though he knew that he was preaching his last ser- 
mon. The nature of true religion is to make the soul calm 
and sweetly peaceful even when the pillars of the earth seem 
to be shaking. It was Socrates that used to say, " Philoso- 
phers can be happy without music," and so Christians can be 
happy when the world's smiles are withdrawn ; when it frowns 
and hates ; yes, even when its curses and its blows fall fast 
upon their heads. 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 307 

Another thing worthy of notice is, though Jesus was well 
pleased with his servant and deeply sympathized with him, he 
did not prevent the stones from wounding and killing him. He 
had power to do so ; but that is not his plan under this dispen- 
sation. He does not promise to prevent his people suffering, 
but only to comfort and support them under their troubles, 
and to make them result in their present and eternal good. 
They are sustained inwardly with a joy that lifts them far 
above the world and all its sorrows. That city did not that 
day contain so happy a man, as he who was dying the object 
of the popular rage and hatred. He was conquering when he 
fell ; he really began to live when he died; and the last stone 
that did its bloody work and ended his earthly life opened the 
gates of glory to him. 

We come now to notice the estimation in which Stephen was 
held by good men. " Devout men carried Stephen to his 
burial, and made great lamentation over him." It is when we 
have buried our friends that we begin to feel the greatness of 
the loss that we have sustained. While the body is yet with 
us and we can go to the room where it lies and gaze upon the 
familiar features, it is hard to realize that the dear one is really 
gone. There is the constant visits of dear friends with their 
loving attempts to divert our minds from the great sorrow, and 
there is the excitement attending the preparation for the 
funeral. But when we have taken our last look and imprinted 
our kiss upon the brow of our dead ; when the coffin is low- 
ered into the grave, and we go back to our lonely and desolate 
home; when the vacant chair, the empty bed, the books that 
the loved one used to read, and many little things, as we wan- 
der through the house, tell us that the object of our affection 
is really gone to return no more; then comes upon us the bitter- 
est hour of our bereavement. 

To the mourners the home seems so sad, under these 
circumstances, that they go often to the grave to weep there. 
But that is a poor place to go to look for comfort. It tells us 
that we live in a sinful world, that our race is a fallen race. 
Yes, the first grave that was dug in our world was sin's monu- 



3o8 THE world's hope. 

ment ; and yet, Jesus brings light even out of this darkness, for 
he says, "I am the resurrection and the life." " I will ransom 
thee from the power of the grave." 

We are also told that holy and devout men were the mourn- 
ers for Stephen. This was true honor. To be the favorites 
of vile and wicked men, to have our names honored and 
applauded by the children of the wicked one, is a disgrace 
rather than an honor. Such are the persons who, before Pilate, 
voted to have the murderer rather than the blessed Lord Jesus 
given to them. But to have the love andprayers and good 
wishes of pious people when we live, and their tears when we 
die, is a high honor indeed. The good opinion of such is 
worth something. It is next to the favor of their Heavenly 
Master, whose sentence of approval at last will shut all scoff- 
ing mouths ; for " who can lay anything to the charge of God's 
elect." 

These Godly men made great lamentation for their departed 
brother. Their burning tears fell upon his grave, when they 
reflected upon his noble, unselfish friendship. They did not 
doubt for a moment that to him death was a great gain, but to 
the church his departure was a great loss. They could, from 
their whole souls, utter the prayer, " Help, Lord, for the Godly 
man ceaseth." Good men are the hope of the world. Let all 
such be taken away, and the salt being taken away, the world 
would become a mass of moral pollution. Only think of the 
whole world of the impenitent being alone in one place, with- 
out God, without churches, without a prayer being offered, as 
the years rolled on ! Dr. Macleod, of Scotland, puts this 
thought in a striking form : " Let the fairest star be selected, 
like a beautiful island in the vast and shoreless sea of the 
azure heavens, as the future home of the criminals from the 
earth, and let them possess whatever they most love, and all 
that it is possid/e for God to bestow; let them be endowed with 
undying bodies, and with minds which shall forever retain 
their intellectual powers; let no Savior ever press his claims 
upon them, no God reveal himself to them, no Sabbath ever 
dawn upon them, no saint ever live among them, no prayer 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 309 

ever be heard within their borders ; but let society exist there 
forever, smitten only by the leprosy of hatred to God, and with 
utter selfishness as its all-prevailing and eternal purpose — then, 
as sure as the law of righteousness exists, on which rests 
the throne of God and the government of the universe, a 
society so constituted must work out for itself a hell of soli- 
tary and bitter suffering, to which there is no limit except the 
capacity of a finite nature ! Alas ! the spirit that is without 
love to its God or to its neighbor, is already possessed by a 
power which must at last create for its own self-torment a 
worm that will never die, and a fire that can never more be 
quenched." 

From the conduct of primitive Christians in regard to the 
death of Stephen, we may learn that it is not wrong to mourn 
when our friends are taken from us. We see this also in the 
example of our adorable Lord at the grave of his personal 
friend: "Jesus wept." It is wrong to murmur, to fret and 
complain against the providences of God. Our grief must run 
in a channel which submission to God has dug. We must 
reverently adore his sovereignty, and be still and know that he 
is God. And all this may be consistent with the keenest sor- 
row. When our Father takes away our loved ones he expects 
that we will feel the bereavement. If we did not, the effective 
stroke would do us no good. Our tears are a testimony borne 
to the value of the gift which God bestowed upon us, and of 
the intense longing of our souls to meet our loved ones again 
in heaven. 

It should be our aim so to live that we will be missed and 
regretted when we die. There are some who so live that their 
departure from earth is a matter of joy, rather than of sorrow. 
Their example was corrupting, and when they are dead we 
feel as if a plague was stayed. When death came they were 
not willing to go, but nearly all their neighbors were willing. 
It is true the loss of their souls is a cause of great mourning, 
but as all hope of their ever being better had died out, the 
longer they live the more mischief they do ; and so when their 
day of grace ends, God takes them away and shuts them up 



3IO THE world's hope. 

where they can do no more harm. But the holy, devoted, 
working Christian is useful here while he lives, and when he 
dies he is only promoted to higher service in heaven. Though 
never weary of Christ's work here he is often weary in 
it. Bodily infirmities make him feel so, and a view of the evils 
of his own heart makes him long to go home. He often says : 
" Savior, I come to Thee, 

A weary child with pam and care oppressed { 

Ah, let me lean this aching, burning heart 
Upon Thy loving breast !" 

There are some important lessons that we may learn from 
the narrative we have been considering. 

First, let ministers learn to depend more on the influence of 
the Holy Spirit Here was a man filled with that mfluence, and 
with what power and energy he spoke It was not a prepared 
sermon, and yet how fitly adapted to the circumstances and to 
the hearers is every word. The spirit enabled him to collect 
his thoughts, gave vigor to his memory so that the very facts 
he wished to use all came to his mind at the right time and 
made his words flow forth with burning power. Of course, a 
minister should study faithfully the Word of God, and do all 
that he can to prepare for his solemn work : but if all that he 
can do in that way makes him feel less dependenc upon the 
Holy One, his preparation will be a curse rather than a bless- 
ing. If our dependence is on our manuscript, or upon every 
word being committed to memory, then it is only a solemn 
mockery for us to pray for the Holy Spirit to help us We 
should study with all the power that God has given us, and yet 
honor the spirit by constantly watching for his instruction and 
guidance. 

I was greatly interested lately in reading the experience of 
a minister in regard to his style of preaching He had in the 
early part of his ministry given his chief attention to rhetori- 
cal and poetical forms of expression in the preparation of his 
sermons. His vanity was well pleased when he heard himself 
extolled as a young man of brilliant talents, and saw his church 
crowded with that class of novelty seekers who are ever run- 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 3II 

ning after something new. But no souls were being saved, and 
believers were not being spiritually fed and built up in their 
holy faith. His wife, who was a holy, prayerful woman, and 
much displeased with the state of things existing in the church, 
said to him one day, " My dear, I am afraid you are making 
more admirers of yourself than followers of Jesus." This re- 
mark not being well received, she took the matter to the Lord 
in earnest prayer. Let the result be told in his own words. 

" It pleased the Lord to hear that prayer of my excellent 
wife. One Sunday morning I preached as usual to a crowded 
congregation, chiefly composed of the principal inhabitants of 
the neighborhood.. I was just then engaged in giving my au- 
dience a picturesque description of a sunset on the sea of 
Galilee, when all of a sudden, owing to the close atmosphere, a 
little girl fell into a fainting fit. The disturbance which it 
created, though only short and comparatively insignificant, yet 
so much put me out that I became altogether confused. The 
rest of my sermon vanished from my memory. I could not 
possibly recollect one word of it. In my perplexity I cried to 
God for help. While looking down on my Bible, which was 
lying open before me, my eyes fell upon the text of Peter, "All 
flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. 
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but 
the word of the Lord endureth forever." Yielding, as it were, 
to an instinctive impulse, I read it to my hearers and began 
preaching from it an improvised sermon, just as it came up in 
my heart. And here, having lost my oratorical flower-basket, 
I could not help laying bare the truths of God's Word in all 
their simplicity and startling reality. Connecting the text 
with my previous description, I called the glory of man a set- 
ting sun, but which was never to rise again. I spoke of the 
utter vanity of everything human, of the certainty of the de- 
struction of this world and of our everlasting condemnation if 
we were to die in the midst of our sins. In a word, I ' shunned 
not to declare to them all the counsel of God,' proclaiming 
death and destruction as it is in Adam, and life and salvation 
as it is in Jesus. 



312 THE world's HOPE. 

" On walking home after service, my wife almost wept for 
joy. Never in her life, she said, had she heard such a heart- 
searching sermon. But I was almost in a desponding mood 
and quite ashamed of myself, ' for the people must have noticed 
my confusion', I said : ' and what a gossip it will be all over 
the place that the minister broke down in the middle of his 
sermon !' 'Surely,' I added, ' this was the worst sermon ever 
preached from a pulpit.' 

" We had scarcely got home, however, when a lady desired 
to speak to me. The impression which her appearance made 
upon me was not very agreeable. She was gaudily dressed 
and carried a flourish of trinkets, lace and finery about her 
which created a most unfavorable impression. 

"' Sir,' she said, while her lip quivered, 'could you permit 
me to speak to you in confidence.?' ' Certainly, ma'am.' 

" ' I am a lost woman,' she said, while tears burst from her 
eyes ; ' but you, sir, can perhaps tell me whether there is still 
salvation for me who have so long lived a careless life.' " 

She then briefly told him her history. She had lived a gay, 
careless, pleasure-seeking life, without God in the world. That 
day she had gone to church, and his sermon had proved a two- 
edged sword to her soul, and now she entreated him to tell 
her of that Savior of whom he had spoken at the close of his 
sermon. He did so, and she received Christ by faith into her 
soul, and became a most consistent Christian. 

In closing the account the minister says, " The Lord taught 
me this great lesson, which I hope I have not forgotten 
since — viz. : that oratory, rhetoric, etc., may be excellent things 
in a pulpit, but that without the eloquence of the Holy Spirit, 
which tells us of the love of him who died for our sins, they 
will never lead a lost sinner to the fold of the only Good Shep- 
herd." 

In the case of Stephen we see how a Christian can die. 
There was not only the absence of all fear, but the presence of 
great joy. The very worst that his enemies could do was to 
hasten him home. No shade of anger is on his brow, no feel- 
ing of revenge in his heart. On the contrary he loves them, 



STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR. 313 

he longs for their salvation, and spends his last failing breath 
in prayer for them. Ah ! what an empty, vain thing is infidel- 
ity compared to such a religion as this. It can only fill the 
mind with dark negatives while the man lives, and curtain his 
death-bed round with guilty horrors and with dark despair. 

** Deathless principle, arise ! 
Soar, thou native of the skies ! 
Pearl of price, by Jesus bought. 
To his glorious likeness wrought, 
Go, to shine before his throne — 
Deck his mediatorial crown ; 
Go, his triumphs to adorn— 
Born for God, to God return. 

" Lo, he beckons from on high ! 
Fearless to his presence fly ; 
Thine the merit of his blood, 
Thine the righteousness of God ; 
Angels, joyful to attend, 
Hovering round thy pillow bend ; 
Wait to catch the signal given. 
And escort thee quick to heaven !" 



3M 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
PETER, THE APOSTLE. 

Peter, the apostle of our Lord Jesus, was a native of Galilee. 
To be an apostle was to occupy a very high and honorable 
position in the church of God, and one full of solemn respon- 
sibilities. Those who occupied this high and holy office were 
the heaven-appointed teachers and legislators in Christ's 
•church. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that their 
word was law in the new kingdom of love. To reject their 
word was to reject the v/ord of the Lord Jesus. To them 
was imparted the gift of working miracles, and of imparting 
:supernatural powers to other members of the church. They 
were placed in a loftier position than the prophets of the old 
dispensation, inasfar as they had to be witnesses and repre- 
sentatives of a purely spiritual kingdom. 

Peter was brought to Jesus in the first place by his brother 
Andrew. That brother and a companion of his, walking togeth- 
'Cr, heard John the Baptist bear witness to the character of 
Jesus in the impressive words, "Behold the Lamb of God !" 
This so impressed the mind of Andrew that he hastened to 
•communicate the good news to his brother Simon, and at once 
introduced him to the Lord. What a loving a?nd brotherly act 
was this ; and what a turning point in the life of Peter was 
this ! The greatest act of kindness we can perform for our 
kindred, the best proof of love that we can give, is to seek the 
salvation of their souls. We may exert ourselves to bring 
them to occupy positions of worldly distinction and honor; 
to walk upon the eminences of life, the objects of the world's 
applause ; but if we fail to bring them to Jesus, who alone can 
save tbf'i" souls, what will it all avail ? If parents only put 
forth one half the effort for their children's souls, that they do 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 



315 



to be able to leave them an earthly inheritance, how numerous 
would be the conversion of souls among the young ; and fami- 
lies would become nurseries for heaven. 

Peter was a man of a naturally warm and ardent tempera- 
ment. Everything that he did was apt to be done under 
strange impulses of feeling. He had an earnest impetuosity 
of character that made him frank and fearless in acting and 
speaking ; but which often led him into unexpected difficul- 
ties. Of an affectionate heart, a hasty temper, a glowing 
imagination, he was deficient in that calmness of judgment 
that leads men to think and deliberate before they act. Such 
men are apt to call caution coldness, and anything short of a 
fiery enthusiam they are ready to denounce as indifference. 
In the deep earnestness of his warm heart he was ready to 
promise much and to undertake much in the service of those 
he loved ; but there was a moral weakness in his character, a 
readiness to yield to present impulse, and to the influence of 
the company in which he happened to be, that made his prom- 
ise unreliable. Not that he could ever be accused of insincerity, 
for his whole soul was in whatever he undertook ; but h.e was 
apt to act under the power of his feelings, and unexpected events 
springing up would turn him in a new direction. Of course, 
I am only speaking of the traits of character that were natu- 
ral to Peter; what grace made him and what he became under 
the teachings of the Holy Spirit, we shall see in the progress of 
this chapter. 

When Peter was introduced to Jesus, as we might expect, he 
was received with great kindness. It was on that occasion 
that he gave him a new name, being about to take him into his 
service ; a name expressive of great firmness. " Thou art 
Simon, the son of Jona ; thou shalt be called Cephas, which 
is, by interpretation, a stone or rock." Hence the name Peter 
is given, which signifies the same as Cephas. On one occasion 
our Lord asked his disciples what the people thought of him ; 
when Peter replied, giving the different opinions expressed. 
Then he was asked by our Lord, "Whom say ye that I am .?" 
Promptly the answer came, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of 



3l6 THE world's hope. 

the living God." Matthew tells us that when Peter had made 
this noble confession, Jesus said unto him, " Blessed art thou, 
Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto 
thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say also unto 
thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my 
church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It 
is evident from these words, that this confession was not a 
mere intellectual matter, but the avowal of a heart touched by 
the iloly Spirit. A bright ray of light from heaven had 
flashed upon his soul, and kindled up a flame of Divine love 
in his heart. We can imagine that we see his weather-beaten 
face kindle up with rapture as he uttered the words. From 
that moment he knew Jesus in his true character as the true 
Messiah, and could say, " To whom can we go but unto Thee ? 
Thou hast the words of eternal life." 

From the time this apostle entered our Lord's service, he 
manifested great zeal and activity ; he was always prominent 
in speech and action ; and yet we can see in the inspired his- 
tory no evidence of that supremacy over the other apostles 
which has been claimed for him by the Romanists. Such 
superiority was never given him by our blessed Lord, was 
never claimed by himself, and was never recognized by his 
brethren. So that the arrogant claims of those who call them- 
selves his successors, have no foundation in the Bible. Christ's 
church is not built upon any mere man, however holy and great 
he may be; but is built upon those sublime doctrines of 
Christ which Peter so boldly confessed under the influence of 
heavenly teaching. No doubt great and miraculous powers 
and gifts were given to this apostle, but they were given in 
common with his brethren of the apostolic office, and not to 
make him a lord over God's heritage. 

Indeed, this kind of exalting one above another is utterly 
inconsistent with our Lord's aim in all his teaching, which was 
to produce humility of heart. "Learn of me, for I am lowly 
inspirit." "Blessed are the poor in spirit." " One is your 
Master, and all ye are brethren." And the more of the spirit 
of Christ any one attains to the more humble he becomes. It 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 317 

was when Job had a very near view of God, that he ceased to 
vindicate himself, and said, " I abhor myself, and repent in 
dust and ashes." Perhaps there did not live a more holy man 
in his day than Isaiah, the evangelical prophet; and yet in 
God's sight he felt himself so vile that he cried out, " I a'-n a 
man of unclean lips." Paul calls.himself " the chief of sinners," 
and "the least of sinners;" while he was so near God that 
sometimes he seemed like one already in heaven. Yes, in 
Christ's Kingdom of love there is no exalting of one child of 
God above another, for through the precious blood of Jesus 
they are all heirs of God, all kings and priests unto God ; and 
he who would be the greatest among them is to be the servant 
of all. The most humbled is to be the most exalted. 

" The bird that soars on highest wing, 
Builds on the ground her lowly nest ; 
And she that doth most sweetly sing, 

Sings in the shade when all things rest ; 
In lark and nightingale we see 
What honor hath humility. 

" The saint that wears heaven's brightest crown 
In lowliest adoration bends ; 
The weight of glory bows him down 

The most when his soul ascends ; 
Nearest the throne itself must be 
The footsteps of humility." 

We come now to consider Peter in some of the phases of 
his spiritual life. And first, let us turn to the circumstance 
related in the fourteenth chapter of Matthew. It was the 
dark midnight hour on the Lake of Tiberias, and a fearful 
storm is raging. A ship is out in the tempest, and the furious 
winds and dashing waves threaten her with instant destruc- 
tion. That little vessel contains a precious band of passen- 
gers; men who are to be an unspeakable blessing to the 
world. The chosen apostles of th'e Lord Jesus are there ; but 
their Divine Master is not with them, and they are greatly 
alarmed for their safety. The Lord has been up on the 
mountains engaged in prayer. Behind the shelter of some old 



3i8 THE world's hope. 

gray rock, he has been pouring out his suppHcation ; and oh, 
had we been there to listen, how formal would all our prayers 
have seemed compared with his ! But he has not forgotten 
that ship struggling with the stormy elements. His watchful 
eye has been upon his loved disciples all the time, and at the 
right time he will appear for their deliverance. 

Down he comes to the edge of the turbulent waters. He 
puts his foot upon a foam-crested wave, and from wave to 
wave walks as securely as upon dry land. Here we see the 
Divinity and humanity of our Lord acting in close contact. 
Up among those rocks on the mountain, we see his humanity, 
for it was as a man he prayed, often with strong cries and 
tears ; but now that he walks upon the stormy water we see 
him as God. Seeing that majestic form approaching the ship, 
the disciples were afraid. But with gentle kindness he reas- 
sures them by the words, " Be of good cheer ; it is I ; be not 
afraid." Then Peter said, " Lord, if it be thou, bid me come 
unto thee on the water." The Lord gave him the inviting 
word, and at once he goes forth to meet his Master. At first 
all goes well. His faith was strong, his eye was fixed upon 
Jesus, and he feared nothing. But, see ! all at once his face 
shows fear, almost despair, and he begins to sink. What is the 
cause ? Has any new danger arisen ? We are told that "when he 
saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid." But it was so before he 
started. No change had taken place in Jesus, none in the storm, 
none in the ship, nor in his fellow-disciples ; but the change was 
in himself. Instead of looking at his Lord, and thinking of his 
power and of his invitation, he began to think of his danger, 
at the greatness of the waves and the fierce power with which 
they were driven by the winds. Then his faith gave way and 
he began to sink. Still he has faith to believe that Jesus can 
save him, and cries, "Lord save; I perish!" A short, but 
very comprehensive prayer ; and a successful one ; for that 
hand which planted the stars in their places, lifts him up from 
impending ruin. 

We see here a striking illustration of the blending of faith 
and unbelief, which is often seen in good people. If it be the 



FETrr, THE APOSTLE. 319 

Lord, he seemed to say, I will fear nothing ; the howling 
winds and the raging waves will not alarm, if I am only as- 
sured that blessed Master is here. But his Lord had be- 
fore this told him that it was he himself that was walking on 
the water; and yet he says "Lord, if it be thou." Now, 
what right had he to put in that if 7 He had the Lord's own 
word for it, and that is the very highest evidence we can have. 
But, like many, he wanted something more. He wished some 
other token or sign to supplement the plain word of Him who 
cannot lie. God says to the sinner, " Believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," and "Whosoever be- 
lieveth in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." But, 
instead of simply believing this, and at once being at peace, 
he looks for something more ; some inward sign, some light 
from heaven, some sudden impression, almost like an audible 
voice, to tell him that his sins are forgiven him. 

Our Lord condescended to give Peter the additional evi- 
dence he asked. He bids him come to him, and for a time 
his faith seems to be strong ; but he had only gone a few steps 
when he began to sink. There was nothing to prevent his 
going on that might not have prevented his starting. True, 
the waves were tempestuous, but so they were before he left 
the boat. The same power that had enabled him to take two 
or three steps, could have enabled him to walk across the lake. 
But he turned his eyes from that power which sustained him, 
to his own weakness and his dangers. He became frightened 
at his former courage ; began to doubt the propriety of his 
former faith ; and he instantly began to sink like lead. 

Often have we seen this same thing manifest itself in the 
spiritual history of the young convert. He has by faith re- 
ceived the Lord Jesus as his all and in all. Peace reigns in 
his heart; he rejoices in hope; and he goes on his way re- 
joicing. But after a little he begins to think of his sins, the 
evil that still lurks in his heart begins to show itself; his atten- 
tion is taken from the fullness that is in Jesus to his own vile- 
ness, and then he begins to sink in a sea of troubles. Happy 
for him if he has still faith enough left to pray, — to cry, " Lord 



320 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

save, or I perish." Then will the arm that is mighty to save 
lift him up and place his feet upon the unshaken rock of Divine 
promise. " If it be thou," will no longer be the cry of such a 
soul — that is the creed of unbelief; but it will rather say, "I 
know in whom I have believed." 

This spirit of unbelief, if indulged, will grow upon the soul, 
till the man not only doubts about his own personal salvation, 
but almost about everything. We cannot conceive of any- 
thing more gloomy than a soul walking amid a perpetual 
doubt in regard to the most vital and important matters in the 
whole universe. Oh how chilling and miserable to live under 
the shadow of this tormenting if. If the Bible be true ; if 
God really does take an interest in the affairs of human 
beings; if prayer is really ever heard or answered; if I am* 
one of the elect ; or, it may be, drifting down the dark stream 
of unbelief, till they come to the infidel's prayer, " Oh God, if 
there be a God !" Such is the state of many who have trifled 
with God's simple, plain testimony as given in his Holy Book ; 
till they are given over to believe a lie. That is, they find it 
very easy to believe what is false, they have strong faith where 
error is concerned ; but the moment that pure truth, fresh and 
glowing from heaven, is presented, they recoil back as from an 
enemy. They are like a person whose stomach has been ruined 
by intemperate living, till it constantly craves that which will 
only increase the evil, and repels, with loathing, that which 
would restore it to health and tone. 

We see, then, that trusting in Christ the believer is very 
strong, but that away from him he is nothing but weakness. 
Paul had a high appreciation of Christ when he said, " I can 
do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me;" and he 
felt just as certain that without him he could do no good 
thing. The three Hebrews were able to walk through the fur- 
nace flames unhurt because the Son of God was with them. 
Fire or water, persecution or bodily affliction, the wrath of 
man or the blandishments of the world ; all are powerless to 
harm when Jesus is with us. We can theh say, " None of these 
things move me." When a hardened wretch put a pistol to 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 32 1 

the heart of the devoted Fletcher, and threatened his life be- 
cause of his faithfulness, he looked the ruffian calmly in his 
e) e, and said, " Have I served the Lord these thirty years, now 
to be afraid of death ?" Faith fears nothing. Its language is 
not " Lord, if it be thou," but rather, " It is the Lord, let Him 
do what seemeth good in his sight." Our religion, if real, will 
begin and end in distrust of ourselves and in trust in Jefus. 
A noble Christian sailor, when asked how he could remain so 
calm during a fearful storm, replied, " Though I sink, I shall 
but drop into my Father's hands, for he holds all these waters 
there." . 

But we must hasten on to notice other events in the life of 
Peter. 

From the naturally impulsive and forward character of Peter 
he comes before us more frequently than any of the other of 
the apostles in the New Testament narratives. On one occa- 
sion many of our Lord's disciples were forsaking him. The 
holy, heart-searching truths which he preached ; the sacrifices 
and self-denial which a profession of his name demanded ; the 
persecution and contempt to which his followers were con- 
stantly exposed ; all acted as a sifting wind to separate the 
chaff from the wheat — the mere professor from the possessor 
of his love. Even the apostles seemed shaken, and were ready 
to depart, for Jesus said to them, " Will ye also go away .?" 
Peter's noble 'reply was, " Lord, to whom shall we go.? Thou 
hast the words of eternal life." This was very fine, and makes 
our hearts warm toward the servant of the Lord ; but only a 
short time after this' he gave utterance to words which called 
forth a most emphatic rebuke from the Savior. 

The circumstances were these : the Lord was preparing the 
minds of the apostles for the tragic events that were to take 
place at Jerusalem, when he must die, the just for the unjust. 
Peter, acting, as usual, under the power of his feelings, revolted 
at the thought of his loved Master being put to death, and at 
once said, "Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto 
thee." This was a manifestation of great presumption, and 
called out one of the most severe rebukes our Savior ever 



322 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Uttered. " Get thee behind me, Satan ; thou art an offence 
unto me ; for thou savorist not the things that be of God, but 
those that be of men." Peter had at this time a very imper- 
fect conception of the nature of the work which our Lord 
came to do. He wanted to leave the Cross out of that work, 
and that would have been to cut off the hope of the world— 
the only refuge of guilty men. Alas ! how many there are 
still, who are willing to blot out the Cross, to speak much of 
Christ's beautiful life, and nothing at all about his vicarious 
death. The Cross is still an offence to such; to those that 
perish it is foolishness. 

This apostle was greatly honored by his Divine Master by 
being permitted to be with him on special occasions of great 
interest. He was one of the favored three that saw the trans- 
figuration on the holy mount. Seeing our Lord's divinity 
bursting through the body he had taken, so that his face shone 
like the sun in its brightness, he was filled with rapture, and 
exclaimed, " Lord, it is good for us to be here;" and even pro- 
posed that a permanent abode should be made there. This 
scene made an impression upon him which he never forgot. 
He refers to it in his second epistle in most impressive terms. 
Peter was also one of those who were permitted to be with our 
Lord on the occasion of his deep agony in the garden, when 
over and over again he uttered the prayer that the cup of suf- 
fering might pass. The apostle and his associates were over- 
''powered by sleep and received the mild rebuke, " Could ye 
not watch with me one hour ?" accompanied with a loving 
apology for their weakness. " The spirit is willing but the flesh 
is weak." 

But as the time drew near for our adorable Redeemer to 
take his departure from earth, events occurred that bring 
Peter prominently before us, and that powerfully rebuke that 
self-confidence which is so strong an element in our fallen na- 
ture. Jesus had sought to prepare the minds of his disci- 
ples for the storm which was soon to burst upon them, and 
had warned them of the feelings with which they would be 
tempted to regard him when he became the object of popular 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 323 

hate. "All ye shall be offended because of me." Here Peter 
spoke out with great boldness, and no doubt with perfect sin- 
cerity, " Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet 
shall I never be offended." Our Lord, to warn him not to be 
so self-confident, told him that he would deny him three times 
that very night. The first trial to which he was put, he seemed 
to have a great deal of courage of a certain kind. When they 
came out to arrest his Lord he showed no signs of fear ; but 
drawing his sword, he displayed all the fiery ardor of the sol- 
dier who is ready to lay down his life for the cause he loves. 
There is no doubt that had Christ's kingdom been of this world, 
and had he required his apostles to lead forth an army to fight 
for him, Peter would have been distinguished as a military 
leader. He was not wanting in mere physical courage, but in 
that higher and nobler endowment which we call moral 
courage, we will see that he afterwards failed. There are many 
who could rush up to the cannon's mouth, or storm the deadly 
breach, or lead on the desperate and almost hopeless charge, 
without shrinking ; who have not the courage to kneel down 
and pray before a wicked companion, or stand up for Jesus in 
the camp. Mere physical courage the inferior animals pos- 
sess, but to stand up for the right, if the whole world were 
opposing us and pointing at us the finger of scorn, has some- 
thing God-like about it. 

Jesus is taken by an armed band and is hurried off to the 
house of Caiaphas the high priest. The other disciples have 
fled, but where is Peter ? We look to find him by his Lord's 
side, but he is not there. Looking away behind, you see him 
following a/ar off; and we are not told that he seemed in a 
great hurry to catch up. But when at last the place is reached 
we surely expect to find him side by side with his Lord ; but 
no such sight gladdens our eyes. He enters the palace, but 
it is only to mingle with the servants. He does not mean to 
deny Christ ; he takes a deep interest in the result of the trial, 
and' he wished to be near Jesus without being at all exposed 
to the mockery and scorn that a full knowledge of who he was 
would involve. Ah ! he is not the only one who has tried to 



324 THE world's hope. 

find a middle place between Christ and the world ; but it has 
always proved a failure. Not to be' for the Lord fully is to be 
against him ; and the man who does not stand on his side, pa- 
tiently and even joyfully taking all the scorn and blows that 
belong to the position, is counted with his enemies. 

How astonished must Peter have felt when a damsel turned 
to him and said, " Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee." We 
can almost see his face flush and hear the throbbing of his 
heart as he replies, " I know not what thou sayest." He thinks 
it best to change his position, however, and he went out into 
the porch, where another met him and said, " This fellow ^Iso 
was with Jesus of Nazareth." He seems now to have felt a 
good deal of irritation, for with an oath he said, " I do not 
know the man." Then returning into the hall he stood by the 
fire to warm himself, when some persons standing by said to 
him, " Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech be- 
trayeth thee." Here was a proof brought home to him that 
he could not deny, and, filled with turbulent passiori, his guilty 
soul rushes into greater guilt by adding cursing and swearing 
to this his third denial of his Lord. 

Alas ! how weak is man, if left to his own strength, in the 
conflict with temptation. Can this be the same man who made 
such a noble confession of Christ, who boasted that though all 
the world should deny him he would stand faithful, who so 
lately was ready to fight for him, and had taken the emblematic 
bread out of his hand .'* Yes, this is the same man. He had 
been warned of the temptation that was coming upon him, 
but did not seem to heed it. He was confident in his own 
power of resisting evil, and, stepping out of the path of duty 
to mingle with the Lord's enemies, he fell. "Let him that 
thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 

But Peter's fall, though very great, was not of long continu- 
ance. That very night he is seen coming back to his God a 
weeping penitent. The crowing of the cock, to which our 
Lord referred when he warned him of his danger, together 
with a glance of peculiar expressiveness from those eyes that 
liad so often looked lovingly upon him, were the means that 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 325 

led to his repentance. It is supposed that our Lord was 
standing at the upper end of the hall, and that at the fit mo- 
ment he turned and gave the guilty man that look which he 
will never forget through all eternity. All his sinfulness, with 
its peculiar aggravations, was made to flash upon his mind. 
His vain boasts, his Lord's predictions, his oaths and curses, 
the unutterable vileness and meanness of his conduct ; all Ut 
up his soul with the gleams of a sudden conviction, as we 
have seen the mighty ruins of some once noble building lit up 
by the midnight lightning. Rushing from the palace he went 
out into the gloom of night, and wept bitterly. Ah ! now he 
begins to come to right views of himself. Memory is taking 
him over the past, and all his sins are made to stand before 
him like accusing spirits of vengeance. He has no excuse to 
make for them. They are his own — the only thing that he can 
call his own ; and nothing but bitterness of spirit does the 
sight of them produce. 

We read no more of this apostle till he comes before us on 
the glorious morning of the Lord's resurrection. No doubt 
the interval had been a time of great anguish of soul to him, 
of strong cries and tears before God. The tidings had 
reached his ears that the Redeemer had arisen from the dead, 
and we see him, in company with John, running in eager 
haste to reach the place where he might judge for himself. 
There was one thing which must have been very comforting 
to his sad and burdened heart. A heavenly messenger ap- 
peared to the women at the sepulcher, and, after announcing 
that the Lord had risen, told them to go and tell his disciples, 
but mentioning the name of Peter in particular. This let him 
know that the Lord still thought of him, still loved him, and 
wanted to comfort him with a message of good news. It 
was as if he had said, " Go tell my brethren, but that poor 
backslider and wanderer, Peter, in particular, that I am still 
alive. I know how sorrowful is his heart, how true his re 
pentance, and I have died for his sins, and have risen again for 
his justification." This token of love, and of deep personal in- 
terest, coming from the Master he loved but had so fearfully 



326 THE world's hope. 

sinned against, must have been unspeakably dear to his 
heart. 

The next we hear of Peter is in that remarkable interview 
with Jesus, at the sea of Tiberias. Several of the apostles 
were engaged in fishing, but had not succeeded in catching 
anything after a night of hard toil. Early in the morning a 
stranger appeared on the shore who encouraged them to make 
another trial with their nets. This they did, and they could 
not drag up the abundance of fishes which they contained. 
This seems to have led John to think of who the stranger was, 
for he exclaimed, " It is the Lord." No sooner had Peter 
heard this, than, with all his characteristic impetuosity, he 
plunged into the sea and soon stood, dripping with the briny 
waters, before Jesus. This was the first time he had seen his 
Lord since that awful night when he denied him, and since he 
gave him that look that melted his heart. Jesus breaks the 
silence by the pointed question, " Lovest thou me .?" Three 
times this question was repeated, at which he felt grieved; 
though as he had thrice denied his Master he had no right to 
complain. We notice, also, that in speaking to him the Lord 
withholds his name of honor, and addresses him by his old 
worldly name, "Simon, son of Jonas." Yet, when he an- 
swered, " Lord, thou knowest all things ; thou knowest that 1 
love thee;" our blessed Savior took him back into his service 
and appointed him his work, saying, " Feed my sheep ; feed 
my lambs." Here we see the real test of Christian character, 
which is, love to Christ. It is not mere opinions, nor profes- 
sions, nor resolutions that are wanted, but pure heart love to 
the Savior. As John Newton says, " Jesus did not ask Peter 
what he thought about the five points of theology so long in 
dispute among controversialists." Neither did he ask him how 
his fear and terrors of coming wrath. To believe with the 
whole heart that Jesus died for us produces love to him; and 
love to him produces obedience to his holy will ; and this is 
true rt-ligion. 

In all his after life Peter showed the transforming power ot 



PETER, THE APOSTLE. 327 

the love to Christ that had taken possession of his heart. 
There is no more wavering, no more fear of consequences if 
he follows the Lord fully. He stands up for the Lord firm 
as a rock. The next we see of him is at the great outpouring 
of the spirit on the day of Pentecost. The city is- in an 
uproar. A wild, turbulent mob fills the street, agitated by 
conflicting passions. Up stands Peter, the sturdy fisherman, 
and begins to speak with melting power. Judging from its 
effects, he delivers the greatest sermon ever uttered by human 
lips. His words of fire go from heart to heart. Sobs and cries 
and prayers are heard all over the crowd, till at last the 
preacher's voice is lost in a general cry to God for mercy; 
and also an earnest cry for spiritual direction, " Men and 
brethren, what shall we do?" The result was, that three 
thousand were added to the church. 

Henceforth Peter seems an entirely different man. He 
comes before us often in the first part of the Acts of the 
Apostles, and always in a manner to show us the wonderful 
power and grace of God in him. In healing the sick ; in 
preaching Jesus in all kinds of places and under the most 
deadly persecutions; in telling the authorities that he must 
obey God rather than man ; in his calm trust in God when in 
prison, and expecting to be led out to execution ; in short, in 
his whole deportment he shows the mighty power of Christ's 
love when it takes possession of the human heart. 

Peter was honored to be the first to preach the gospel to 
the Gentiles. He was also honored to be one of the inspired 
writers in the Holy Book ; and his two precious epistles have 
edified millions of God's children, and will continue to do so 
to the end of time. Being dead he yet speaketh. And he 
was honored to die as a martyr for Jesus. It is generally held 
that he died when about seventy-five years of age, under the 
persecutions of the bloody Nero. As to the manner of his 
death there is an old tradition that he was crucified, but, at his 
own request, with his head downwards, he deeming himself 
unworthy to die as his Lord died. And now he walks in 
white with that gracious Savior that treated him so tenderlyj 
and that he loved so dearly. 



328 THE world's hope. 

♦' Come, wandering sheep, O come ! 

I'll bind thee to My breast, 
I'll bear thee to thy home, 

And lay thee down to rest. 

O come then to My breast, 

This is a blessed home. 

Come, wandering sheep, O come ! 

"I saw thee stray forlorn, 

And heard thee faintly cry. 
And on the tree of scorn 

For thee I deigned to die, 

What greater gift could I 
Give than to seek the tomb ? 
Come, wandering sheep, O comel" 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 329 



CHAPTER XXII. 
JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 

John comes before us with this preeminence attached to 
him above all the apostles, " the disciple whom Jesus loved." 
In a high and general sense he loved them all ; but John, the 
youngest of them all, and possessed of a sweet, amiable dispo- 
sition, and a wealth of loving affection, seems to have had the 
special friendship of our adorable Lord. Many proofs of 
Christ's loving regard and confidence are given in the life of 
this apostle. He was not only one of the three permitted to 
witness his glory on the mount and his agony in the garden, 
but to him was first committed the secret of who should 
betray him, and into his care our Lord gave his mother 
in the last hour of his dying anguish. He not only loved John 
with the higher love of a Savior, but with the warm love of a 
human friend. As a man he had, no doubt, his own particular 
attachments, as we see often illustrated in the history of his life. 

John and his brother James were called into our Lord's ser- 
vice at the same time. When called to the apostleship they 
were called Boanerges, meaning sons of thunder. In John's 
life there is not much of exciting interest to record. The 
events of stirring importance which we find in the lives of Pe- 
ter and Paul are, to a great extent, wanting in his. He was of 
a loving, gentle, mild and meditative character ; one who would 
be more at home in the study and the closet, than struggling 
and contending for the truth in the rough scenes of the world. 

There are none of the apostles about whom tradition has 
been so busy in preserving anecdotes as John. Eusebius re- 
lates the following beautiful story : When on a visit to a city 
near Ephesus, he commended to the care of the pastor of the 
church a young man of fine personal appearance and of good 



330 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

mind, as one suited to the work of the ministry. The pastor 
neglected his duty, and after a while the young man became 
idle in his habits and went from bad to worse, till he was pre- 
vailed upon to join a band of robbers, such as then had their 
strongholds in the vicinity of Greek cities. He even became 
their captain, and was eminent in crime. After a long time 
John visited the place again and enquired for the young man. 
" He is dead," said the pastor, " dead to God." After hearing 
the particulars, and solemnly rebuking the pastor, he mounted 
a horse, rode into the country, and was taken prisoner. He 
did not attempt to flee, but said, " For this purpose I am come ; 
conduct me to your captain." When he entered the presence 
of the armed bandit, the guilty man knew him and tried to flee 
from him. "Why dost thou fly, my son," he said, "from thy 
father — thy defenceless, aged father ? Fear not ; thou still 
liast hope of life, I will pray to Christ for thee, I will give my 
life for thine. Believe that Christ hath sent me," 

The man was quite subdued, cast himself into the arms of 
the apostle, prayed with many tears for pardon, and was re- 
stored to the fellowship of the church. 

There is also a traditional story of John being carried into 
the church at Ephesus in his old age, and of his stretching out 
his trembling hands, while he said, several times over, " Little 
children, love one another." 

There are many proofs that John was not only loved of Jesus, 
but that he returned the love with the warmest fervor. " We 
love him because he first loved us." His standing near to the 
cross when the other disciples had forsaken the Master, his 
tender care of the bereaved mother,, the early visit to the sep- 
ulcher, out-running even the impetuous Peter, all tell how much 
he loved his Divine Lord. It was more than a love of mere 
human friendship, it was the love of a soul that felt itself saved 
by precious blood shed on the cross. He felt that he owed 
his all for time and eternity to that Savior, and therefore es- 
teemed it his very highest honor to work and to suff"er in his 
service. This is vital and essential to the spiritual life of all; 
there can be no true religion without it. 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 33I 

This love which the apostle had for Jesus led to love for the 
members of the church. His religion was of a highly practical 
character, and he reasoned that love to the Great Father would 
produce love to his children. " Beloved, if God so loved us, 
we ought also to love one another." Here is a statement that 
commends itself to our judgments and our consciences. " If 
a man says, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar ; 
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can 
he love God whom he hath not seen .?" He scathingly rebukes 
that class of people whose love and liberality is all in an empty 
profession. " Whoso hath this world's good, and shutteth up 
his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of 
God in him ? let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but 
in deed and in truth." With him Christian love was not merely 
something for poets to sing of, or for orators to declaim about, 
but the very life and spring of all spiritual action. 

John's natural character has been, I think, to some extent 
mistaken. Some speak as if this love to which we have referred 
was natural to him, the result of disposition rather than of 
grace. Modern painters have represented him with a soft and 
languid expression upon his countenance, and of a weak and 
feminine appearance. Stanley, in his "Apostolic Age," says of 
him, " It is not as John the beloved disciple, but as John the 
Son of Thunder ; not as the apostle who leaned on his Mas- 
ter's breast at supper, but as the apostle who called down fire 
from heaven, who claimed with his brother the highest places 
in the kingdom of heaven, and who forbade the man to cast 
out devils, that he was known to the readers of the first three 
gospels." We see what he afterwards became under the power 
of Christ's love, and of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. 
All that depth and warmth of love was not the cause of our 
Lord loving him, but the effect of his doing so. 

The loving presence of Jesus transformed him into his own 
image, so that his revengeful and ambitious temper is seen 
no more. Like Him he loved, he was meek and lowly of heart. 
This will be the result of communion with Jesus always. It 
changes the whole man, and takes possession of his entire na- 



^;^2 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

ture. Where lusts, evil tempters, irritable and revengeful 
passions, and dark, sullen thoughts held sway, Christ's love 
takes the control and makes him a new creature. It is a bad 
sign of us if our religion does not make us better in all the re- 
lations of life, so that all our friends will not only know that 
we have been with Jesus, but know als ) that we have been 
made Christ-like by the contact. " If any man have not the 
spirit of Christ, he is none of his," 

We will now call the readers attention to some events in the 
life of this apostle that will illustrate the remarks we have 
made above. 

On a certain occasion John and some other of the disciples 
saw a man casting out devils in the name of Christ, and he at 
once forbade him to do so, because he did not belong to their 
company. This was such a narrow and bigoted view of our 
Lord's design in coming to earth that he rebuked it in the 
most pointed manner. " Forbid him not, for he that is not 
against us, is for us." This rebukes that spirit which looks 
upon the efforts of other denominations with suspicion because 
they differ, in some respects, from us. It condemns those who 
look with a cold eye, and utter doubtful words about revivals 
that are not conducted by their own church. Such persons, 
instead of rejoicing that souls are saved, are ready to first 
call your attention to some extravagance in conducting the 
meetings, or some mere incidental blemish, such as belongs to 
nearly all human efforts. Let us try to cultivate the noble 
liberality of soul that marked Paul when he rejoiced that the 
gospel was preached, even when a spirit of opposition and 
envy was prominent in those who proclaimed it. 

Let me now call attention to another error into which John 
fell. When Jesus was journeying to Jerusalem a village of 
Samaritans refused to entertain him, no doubt on account of 
their hatred of the Jewish people ; John regarded this as an 
insult to his Master and became very indignant and wished 
fire from heaven to be sent upon the offenders. This was zeal 
without knowledge, and showed a spirit the very reverse of 
the gospel of love. Our Lord's reply conveyed not only a 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST ^^^■ 

sharp rebuke, but also a noble sentiment which should fill the' 
world with joy. " The Son of man is not come to destroy 
men's lives, but to save them." He told them that they knew 
not what manner of spirit they had when under the pro- 
fession of love for him, they sought to rush unprepared souls 
into eternity. How true it is, that '' the wrath of man worketh 
not the righteousness of God." O that we had always the 
loving and forgiving spirit of Jesus ! That spirit which led 
him to pray for his enemies, " Father forgive them, for they 
know not what they do." What a lovely and perfect model 
we have in Jesus ! 

No doubt the fiery displeasure of the apostle on this occa- 
sion arose, in part, from his strong prejudice against the 
Samaritans, whom he had been taught to despise from his 
youth. He had often heard the Scribes and the Pharises heap 
insults upon the head of his Lord, and yet had not wished 
them to be consumed by the lightnings of heaven. Hence we 
should avoid the indulgence of prejudice against our fellow- 
men. It will mislead us in all our thoughts of them, bias our 
modes of reasoning about them, and stamp with its own dark 
impress all the conclusions at which we arrive about them. 

We now call the reader's attention to an event in John's 
history, which shows the imperfect knowledge which, at that 
time, he had of Christ's kingdom. When our Lord was on his 
last journey to Jerusalem, and had foretold his death on the 
cross, John and his brother presented by their mother a peti- 
tion requesting that they might be exalted to the highest 
positions in the kingdom of heaven. They had worldly 
notions of the Savior establishing a temporal kingdom on 
earth, and selfishly wanted to secure for themselves the best 
places. The mild reply was, "Ye know not what ye ask." 
Alas! how often is this the case with us all. We ask things 
in our ignorance, which, if God were to give us, would prove 
our ruin. How much of what is called praying breath is 
spent in vain, because we ask amiss. Surely there is great 
need of the prayer, " Lord, teach us how to pray." 



334 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Jesus asked them, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I 
shall drink of, and to be baptised with the baptism that I am 
baptised with?" That is, can ye take part in those most 
appalling troubles that lie right before me, and like surging 
billows are soon to come down upon me ? To this question they 
gave an affirmative reply : " We are able. " Our Lord acknowl- 
edged that they might be made partakers of his suff'erings, 
which was afterwards the case ; but that an exalted place in 
glory could only be given to those for whom it was prepared, 
that is, a holy people. Heaven is a prepared place for a pre- 
pared people. Its lofty seats are not the gifts of partial 
friendship, but are given to those who through the blood of 
Jesus, have attained the greatest likeness to Him. 

There is one event in the life of John that greatly endears 
him to every Christian heart. When the blessed Savior was 
on the cross, in the midst of his sufferings, there stood the 
noble apostle to the very last. And his courage and his con- 
stancy did not go without their reward. Looking upon him 
from the cross, his dying Master gave him a proof of his great 
regard and confidence, by committing to his care his mother. 
He took her to his own house, and from that hour treated her 
with all filial tenderness and love. The love of Jesus which 
he saw so fully displayed on the bloody tree, and in the whole 
of the Redeemer's wonderful life, transformed his whole 
nature into love. Henceforth he lived not to himself, nor 
sought his own glory, but the glory of God, and the good of 
mankind became the supreme desire of his soul. 

And it is faith in Christ's love alone that can change any 
human heart. None are born holy, none love God and the 
souls of men naturally. There are differences of natural 
disposition among the human family, but so far as real holiness 
of heart is concerned, they have all alike departed from God, 
and can only be brought back by the blood of Jesus. This 
was seen lately in a Tract Society meeting, in London. A 
man who had been a notorious sinner, rose up and said : 

"These fists, my friends, struck the devil's blows; these 
feet trod the devil's steps; this body was the devil's home ; 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 335 

this soul, the devil's victim; but one day a tract of the Relig- 
ious Tract Society was put into my hands, and Jesus Christ 
was too strong for the prize fighter that stands before you. 
My soul was in such a state that I groaned and wept ; I could 
not eat or sleep. On Lord's day morning I heard Mr. Spurg- 
eon preach ; and as he lifted up Jesus as the refuge for the 
sinner's soul, I said to myself, ' That is what I want ; He is a 
refuge for my soul;' and then and there my soul got liberty. 

"Now," added he, "these hands work for Jesus, these feet 
walk with Jesus, this body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, this 
soul is the purchase of his blood. Men, which of you will 
keep back from Jesus to-night, when he has saved the prize- 
fighter before you .''" 

Peter's question of mere curiosity, in regard to Jesus' future, 
got this reply : " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is 
that to thee.?" This gave rise to a report that John was not 
to die; and although he refuted the notion in the gospel that 
he wrote, yet even in the days of Augustine there were some 
who thought him still alive. He was, perhaps, the only one of 
the apostles who did not die a martyr's death, and that, not 
because he was less faithful than others, but because God had 
other work for him to do, down to his old age. He had the 
true martyr spirit, and would have died a thousand deaths 
rather than deny his Lord. 

After the Lord's ascension, John comes out more prominent 
as a zealous worker for the truth. In common with the others 
he enjoyed the great outpouring of the Spirit on the day of 
Pentecost. He and Peter are spoken of as frequent compan- 
ions in works of faith and in labors of love. When going 
up to the temple to worship, they cured the lame man in the 
name of Jesus. They were together preaching when they 
were arrested and cast into prison. They were together 
before the council when they refused to promise to preach no 
more, but boldly said they must obey God rather than man. 
They also went down from Jerusalem together to comfort and 
confirm the young converts in Samaria. There they imparted 
many spiritual gifts to the people of God, and preached the 



336 THE world's hope. 

gospel with great power in the region around. These two men, 
so unlike in their natural disposition, were great helps to 
each other ; and like Luther and Melancthon amid the struggles 
of the Reformation, they accomplished that together which, 
separated, neither could have done so well. 

It would seem that John made his chief residence at Jeru- 
salem. Paul speaks of him in his epistle to the Galatians, as 
a main pillar in the church there. But after some time he 
removed to Ephesus, and from thence he took long journeys 
in Asia, to publish the good news of Jesus. 

We are told that during the great persecution raised by the 
Roman emperor Domitian, John was sent to Rome, where 
he was condemned to die by being cast into a cauldron of boil- 
ing oil, from which the Lord brought him forth unhurt. 
Whether this tradition be true or not, we know that man is 
immortal till his Lord's time has come to call him, and that 
this apostle was preserved to a good old age, in spite of all his 
enemies. 

John's gospel was published after all the others, and brings 
out many things that had been omitted by them. He gives 
the Divinity of the Lord Jesus a very prominent place in all 
his writings, and joyfully bears his testimony to not only be- 
holding his glory, but to also receiving of his fullness. He sees 
in his Lord two things that specially fill his soul with delight, 
that is, LIGHT and love. Light to illuminate the whole mind, 
light to walk by in this dark world, light to work by in the 
Master's service ; and love to fill the heart, to give the true 
motive-power to every duty, and to draw us in our heart- 
longings to that world where all is love. 

This holy apostle lived to see the gospel that he loved ex- 
tend through the greater part of the then known world. But 
he lived also to see some deadly errors creep into the church. 
None of these distressed him more than that which denied the 
divinity of Jesus. He opposed it with great firmness and 
earnestness. " This is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye 
have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in 
the world." We have much reason to bless God for his 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 337 

writings, which have been for the defence of truth, and for the 
comfort and edification of God's people in every age, since 
his day. There is great sweetness of expression, joined to 
great sublimity of thought, in all that we have from his pen. 

Although John's epistles breathe a sweet spirit of love, yet 
when he comes to speak of error he comes out as a true son 
of thunder. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abidpth not in 
the doctrine of Christ, hath not God." And he goes on to 
tell them not to receive such into their houses, nor bid them 
God speed. In this age of sham liberality this would no 
doubt be called bigotry ; but love to the souls of men is quite 
consistent with undying hatred to soul-destroying errors. 
There is a latitudinarianism that sneers at everything in the 
form of zeal or doctrine. But this finds no sanction in the 
book of God. Paul said that if any man preached any other 
gospel he was to be considered accursed. 

At length the hand of persecution fell heavily upon the 
apostle. He is banished to the island of Patmos, condemned, 
as he tells us, " For the word of God, and for the testimony of 
Jesus Christ." It was while there that that wonderful and 
sublime book of the Revelations was written by him. In the 
midst of his solitude, on one particular Lord's day, his soul 
was greatly refreshed and comforted. Under the sweet influ- 
ence of the Spirit, his prison became like a paradise to him. 
Suddenly a voice addressed him in tones distinct and clear; 
and turning round he saw, to his unspeakable joy, his blessed 
Lord standing before him. There is He on whose bosom he 
leaned so lovingly, with whom he walked and talked amid the 
scenes of Judea, and whose sufferings on the cross he had 
witnessed ; but how changed is his appearance ' 

Then he was the man of sorrows, in the midst of his hu- 
miliation ; now he is glorified. He appeared to John clothed 
in a garment of light and glory, and girt about with a golden 
girdle. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet like brass 
when it burns and gleams in a furnace, and the majestic tones 
of his voice were like the sound of many waters. His coun- 
tenance shone like the sun in its noon day glory; in his hand 



338 THE world's hope. 

were seven stars, signifying the ministers of the churches ; and 
out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, no doubt 
emblematic of the power of his word. At this sight John fell 
down like 'One dead, but Jesus laid his hand upon his head 
saying, " Fear not ; I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and 
behold, I am alive forevermore." 

He was then commanded to write in a book the things 
that would be revealed to him. The counsels of the Lord in 
regard to future ages, and the wonderful designs of Provi- 
dence in the future, were all made known to him in visions 
hard to be understood. The glories of the heavenly home 
were made known to him, in views thrilling and delightful. 
He was permitted to look upon the throne of God, and to 
hear the lofty swell of the song of praise from angels and 
saints. He gives us such a view of God, and of the future 
glorious home of the believer as excite our love and joy. 
This poor world seems but a dark passage-way through which 
we are passing to ©ur Father's home, and we long to get out 
into the light of an eternal day ; the society of heaven seems 
more attractive as we gaze upon their employments, and we 
long to join the blessed company that move around the eternal 
throne. 

John was privileged with bright views of heaven when on 
earth, but how much clearer and brighter does he now behold 
eternal things. Compared with what he now knows, he was 
formerly seeing dimly through a glass. Let us seek to get 
ready for that state by being washed in the blood of Jesus, by 
having the seal of God on our fo<reheads, and by such a train- 
ing of love in communion with Jesus here, that it will be easy 
for us to join in the song of heaven : " Blessing, and honor, 
and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." 

John found in his solitude that his Lord had not forgotten 
him, nor the churches from which his bodily presence was now 
removed. More than half a century had gone past since he 
ascended on high, and he shows that his love to the church is 
still the same. It is true, that during that time he had appeared 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 339 

to the dying Stephen, and the persecutJrg Saul; but now he 
breaks again the silence of eternity to deliver his last message 
to the churches, and to complete the canon of Scripture. 

This renowned Isle of Patmos where the apostle was so long 
confined, is often visited by modern travelers. They describe 
it as rugged, desolate and barren, and in every way unattract- 
ive. To this gloomy abode Roman officers conducted the 
beloved disciple, and left him alone with God and a good con- 
science, the best of company in trouble. There is a rocky 
mountain which rises up from the sea, and about half way up 
is found a natural grotto formed in the rocks. Tradition says 
that into this John often retired for prayer and meditation, 
and that this was the place where he saw the Lord Jesus on 
that memorable Lord's day of which he speaks. 

We can imagine that we see this venerable old man, then 
about ninety years of age, walking around his rocky prison. 
His countenance beams with love, and as he looks over the 
past, as old men delight to do, he has the most delightful mem- 
ories to recall. Unlike the great Emperor of the French when 
confined to his isle of the sea, he has not to look back upon 
bloody battle-fields, and desolate homes, and blazing cities- 
with long trains of widows and orphans, made such by his mad 
ambition. There are few things in history more sad than that 
great general in his last moments, muttering out his commands 
to his armies, and in imagination fighting over his bloody con- 
flicts when he was in the grasp of the great conqueror death. 
John had very different scenes to look back upon. 

With what happy emotions would he look back upon the 
time when the God-man came up to him and said, " Follow me." 
And with what delight he would call up the many discourses he 
had heard from the lips of Jesus, and the many mighty miracles 
he had seen wrought by his hands. That sight on the Mount of 
Transfiguration; the institution of the supper when he leaned 
upon the bosom of the Lord ; the awful night in Gethsemane, 
with its prayers and sweat of blood ; and the cross with the 
Divine sufferer upon it, the darkness, the earthquake, the cry, 
"It is finished ;" all would he fondly dwell upon in his solitary 



340 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

hours. He would recall the joy he felt when the good news 
broke upon his ears, "The Lord is risen," and. his early run 
to the sepulcher; the happy meeting when Jesus unexpectedly 
appeared in their midst and said, " Peace be unto you;" and 
that wonderful walk up the slopes of Olivet, when he breathed 
upon them his parting blessing and was received up into glory. 

Nor could he cease to think of subsequent thrilling scenes, 
such as the mighty out-pouring of the Spirit on the day of 
Pentecost, the death of Stephen, the martyrdom of his own 
dear brother James, the awful destruction of Jerusalem, and 
many pleasant remembrances of the holy lives and the tri- 
umphant deaths of his fellow apostles, all of whom had entered 
upon their eternal rest. Standing upon that barren rock, he 
could take a long look over the past and a joyful look into the 
future, and say, in his own inspired words, " Behold, now are 
we the sons of God ; and it doth not yet appear what we shall 
be ; but when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we 
shall see him as he is." 

This was the real heaven for which John longed, likeness to 
Christ. His loftiest conception of happiness was to be with 
Jesus and like him at the same time. It is a glorious thing-4o 
be a son of God, but to be such a son as Christ had proved 
himself to be — one who never disobeyed, who regarded it as 
his meat and drink to do his Father's will, and who pleased 
the Father in all things perfectly — this is what is implied in 
our being like him. Yes, likeness to him has been the strong- 
est wish, the most ardent hope of pious souls in all ages. For 
this their prayers have ascended to heaven by night and by day ; 
and when at last they shall be able to utter sinless songs and 
adore God with a sinless heart, who can tell their unspeakable 
blessedness ! With sinless souls, intellects strengthened and 
exalted, and tongues flowing out in an eloquence of song and 
praise, O what a rapturous eternity is before God's people ! 

In closing this chapter let us observe, that we have the same 
reasons for loving Jesus that John had. For us the same pre- 
cious blood was shed, the same agonizing sufferings endured; 
for us he intercedes in heaven, and he sends the Holy Spirit 



JOHN, THE APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST. 34I 

to make intercession within us on earth. For us he has pre- 
pared the same home in heaven, and his Providences taking 
the same tender care of us in our journey on earth. John 
said, "We love him because he first loved us." That is the 
gospel in a small compass — in a nutshell, as it were. It is one 
of those strong, pithy sentences with which his writings abound, 
and which as Dr. McAU said, contain the very core of the gos- 
pel. Faith fixes its eye upon his love as manifested to us, and 
as it gazes, the heart begins to burn, till it cries, " O, the height 
and the depth, the length and the breadth of the love of Christ 
it passeth knowledge !" 

" Without, within, is light, is light, 
Around, above, is love, is love^- 
We enter, to go out no more. 
We raise the song unsung before, 
We doff the sackcloth that we wore ; 
For all is joy above. 

"Ascend, Beloved, to the life ; 
Our days of death are o'er ; 
Mortality has done its worst, 
The fetters of the tomb are burst, 
The last has now become the first. 
For ever, evermore. 

"Ascend, Beloved, to the feast ; 
Make haste, thy day is come ; 
Thrice blest are they the Lamb doth call 
To share the heavenly festival, 
In the new Salem's palace-hall. 
Our everlasting home ! " 



342 THE world's HOPE. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 

We are now to consider the Christian character and career 
of one of the greatest of men. His original name was Saul, 
and he was born in the city of Tarsus, in Cilicia, which lies on 
the bank of Cydnus. It was a special favor conferred upon 
the natives of that city, that they had the freedom and privi- 
leges of Roman citizens. His parents were Jews, and it was 
his boast that he could trace his descent from Abraham, and 
that all the necessary ritual observances had been attended to 
in his youth. His own words concerning this are, " Circum- 
cised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of 
Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews." 

We can conceive of the deep interest with which he would 
listen to his mother as she told him the wonderful story of 
God's dealings with her people, and sang to him some of the 
sweet songs of David. He was taught the trade of a tent- 
maker, as it was customary with the Jews to give their child- 
ren the knowledge of some trade, even when in opulent 
circumstances ; so that whatever might happen in after life, 
they might be able to support themselves. It is much to be 
regretted that this custom is not universal. That Saul's parents 
were in easy circumstances, we infer from the fact that they 
gave him a learned education and sent him to Jerusalem to 
study under Gamaliel, the great doctor of the age in which he 
lived. 

The first notice we have of Saul in the sacred history, is on 
the occasion of the martyrdom of Stephen. He was consent- 
ing to that vile murder,, and took charge of the clothing of 
those who stoned to death that good man. But it is of the 
nature of sin that its votaries go from bad to worse, and this 
young man was no exception. He became furious and savage 
as a wild beast in his opposition to Christians. He made 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 343, 

havoc of the church, dragging men and women to prison and 
to death, as his daily employment. We are told that he 
"breathed out threatenings and slaughters," as if his very life 
breath was vengeance and blood. He tells us himself that he 
was " exceeding mad " against Christ's followers, and not con- 
tent with a local bloodshed, he even pursued them to strange 
cities. He got a commission to go to Damascus on this 
bloody errand, with a number of assistants, and entered upon it 
with all that relentless determination and fiery zeal which were 
a part of his nature. 

We see that wicked, cruel band on the way to that distant 
city. Fresh from scenes of carnage and blood, and flushed 
with the power that has been put into their hands by their 
superior, they rush on like blood-hounds that have got upon 
the right scent. The leader, though young in years, is old in 
the business of persecution ; and in this journey he hopes to 
gratify his vindictive ambition, and acquire fresh laurels as an 
enemy of Jesus of Nazareth. His strong and active mind is 
engaged in planning his mode of proceeding. He will hunt the 
Christians out of every retreat; he will give them no quarter; 
he will listen to no appeal for mercy; and will not be satisfied 
till the last follower of Jesus has perished from the earth. 
With knit brow and flashing eye he presses his way forward, 
till at last the domes of the city break upon his view. 

But what means this ! His horse recoils and the young 
leader falls to the earth. The whole company are thrown into 
confusion. They are brave and are accustomed to fight with 
dauntless courage ; but this is a case in which swords and 
bravery are of no use. A light from heaven above the bright- 
ness of the sun, has blazed around them ; and a voice of 
thrilling power addresses the leader, " Saul, Saul, why perse- 
cutest thou me ?" His followers hear the voice, but do not 
see the majestic form that appears to him, and kindly reasons 
with him. What a change has taken place in a few moments ! 
His plans of vengeance are all given up, his bigotry and 
prejudice against Christians, his hatred to the name of Jesus, 
all have disappeared ; the hands that grasped the sword of 



344 ■ THE WORLD S HOPE. 

persecution are now lifted to heaven in supplication ; and he 
who was to have proudly entered yonder city as a conqueror, 
is led into it blind and helpless. 

When Saul, from his prostrated position on the earth, asked, 
"Who art thou, Lord.?" and got back the answer, "I am 
Jesiis, whom thou persecutest," he must have been cut to the 
heart with deepest contrition. That all this time when he 
thought that he was doing God's service, he was persecuting 
the only Savior of the world, and that he was now speaking 
to him so tenderly when he might have crushed him with the 
thunderbolts of his power, must have filled him with self- 
abhorrence. Every blow that he had given the cause of truth 
was now rebounding upon his own heart. From a lethargy 
long and death-like, his conscience has sprung up into self- 
accusing energy; and all that he was so proud of before he is 
now heartily ashamed of. An entire revolution takes place in 
his soul. He becomes a new creature in Christ. What he 
called right before he now hates as a vile wrong. What he 
before called truth he now sees to be damnable error. He 
now prays for the first time, though he had been saying prayers 
all his life. The lion has become a lamb, the vulture a dove ; 
it is the Lord's doings and wondrous in our eyes. This was 
a brand plucked out of the burning, and should teach us never 
to despair of any sinner, however far he may have gone in sin. 
God can snatch the prey from the mighty, and make one who 
seemed helplessly toppling on the brink of hell the mightiest 
instrument of good to souls that God ever honored. 

At this time Paul's soul passed through a deep law work, 
such as he afterwards describes in his writings. He had been 
a proud Pharisee before, thinking that he had kept the law of 
God perfectly, because he had not committed outwardly the 
acts of sin which it condemns. Now he felt that the law reached 
to the feelings and emotions of his corrupt heart, and that he 
had, in that view of the matter, been breaking this holy law 
every moment of his God-dishonoring life. Thus he tells us 
that when the commandment came to him in this sense, sin 
revived and he died. His whole life was now seen to be sin, 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 345 

and all his former proud hopes of his own goodness died within 
him. All dependence on himself for salvation failed ; he saw 
himself the chief of sinners; and he was glad to go to 
Jesus, all lost and guilty as he was, for pardon and righteous- 
ness. 

It must have been a hard struggle to give up all his own 
fancied goodness, and to be saved alone by grace. It is 
always so with these haughty Pharisees. The thief on the 
cross, and persons of that stamp, who know they have no 
goodness of their own to depend upon, will come to Jesus at 
once ; while those who have lived a moral life, will keep look- 
ing to their good deeds, and balancing their good works 
against their bad ones, rejecting Christ, and alternating 
between hope and fear, for months and even years. 

A gentleman tells us of a conversation which he had with an 
old lady, on her death-bed, which throws light on this subject. 
She acknowledged that she had, notwithstanding her moral 
life, no knowledge of her acceptance with God, or of the par- 
don of her sins; but she said that we are sure to get it if we 
are only earnest enough. The gentleman asked her if she 
was to go to the bank and ask for twenty pounds very ear- 
nestly, would the banker be likely to give it to her? She 
acknowledged that inasfar as she had no money laid up in the 
bank, and therefore no right to plead, her earnestness would 
not help her. The banker was there to do what was right, 
and would only give money to those who had a right to 
receive it. 

The gentlema.n then said, " Suppose that you know a kind 
and wealthy gentleman who has plenty of money in this bank, 
and who, besides, is interested in you. Well, suppose you go to 
him and tell him your need, and, after he has heard you out, 
he Smiles and says, ' Now you have done me the greatest favor 
you could have done me, for I feel it such a pleasure to help 
you.' And so saying he fills up an order out of his bank-book 
instructing the banker to pay you twenty pounds on demand, 
and to charge the same to his account. Now what would you 
do with that little bit of paper that he gave you ? " 



346 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

" I would take it to the bank and get the money," she said. 

" But would you not need to ask for the money very ear- 
nestly 1 " 

" No, no," she replied, " the bit of paper would be plenty of 
itself." 

" Yes, certainly, everything depends on that bit of paper, 
and the name that is written on it. If you take the paper 
with you, you will at once get the money for the sake of him 
whose name is written at the bottom of it ; but if you go with- 
out the paper, all your earnest asking will be quite useless, 
and why .? Because it would not be right in the banker to give 
it to you. The banker, you see, will give you nothing for your 
own sake, but he will give you any amount your friend pleases, 
for your friend's sake." 

"And now," he continued, "I wish you to attend very 
■carefully to the application of this little parable to the subject 
we were speaking about Do you know that you have nothing 
at all in God's bank, and that it is quite out of the question 
for you to expect such great blessings as forgiveness of sins, 
and such like, when you ask them in your name, however ear- 
nest you may ask? Ah, my friend, your name has as little 
weight in God's bank as it has in man's bank. Now, it is a 
blessed fact that God is willing to give to the sinner — nay, 
that he delights in giving ; but then he will give us only in a 
way that is just and righteous. In order that there might be 
such a way for God to forgive our sins, and to bless ourselves, 
he sent his beloved Son to bear our sins himself, and thus to 
become the Author of eternal salvation to all who believe in 
his name. And now, since the Lord Jesus has done all this, 
God is quite ready to pardon and to bless any sinner at once ; 
but it must be clearly understood, that what he gives us he 
gives us only for Jesus' sake and not for our 07e>n. Now, you 
have been all along completely setting aside the name of 
the Lord Jesus ; and when you did go to ask anything from 
God you have been expecting to get it, not for Christ's sake, 
but for the sake of your earnest praying." 

This simple explanation of the plan of salvation, under the 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 347 

Divine blessing caused the light to break in upon the mind of 
the inquirer. It is the same truth that converted Paul, and 
which alone can save any one, for under heaven or among 
men, there is no salvation but in the name of Jesus. When 
the light of God's law is flashing upon the conscience, it is 
only like the light of day being let in upon a dark and loath- 
some dungeon ; it makes the prisoner feel worse than before, 
for it lets him see disgusting sights that the darkness hid from 
him. Light coming to us through the law, only enables us to 
see our vileness and to read our sentence of death pronounced 
upon us. But light coming from God to us through the cross, 
brings comfort and peace and joy ; because it tells us of God 
both as the just Law-giver, and the Savior; and hence Paul 
said, " The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, 
that we might be justified by faith." 

The great obstacle in the way of the sinner coming to God, 
when his conscience is awakened, is the sight of his sins — 
formerly he made light of his sins ; they were but a trifle — 
now he cries, " I have sinned beyond the hope of mercy." 
Before he could not be induced to fear, now cannot 

be persuaded to hope. See Paul sitting in darkness and 
distress for three days. He cannot sleep, he cannot eat. 
Oh how vile his past life appears ! Only a short time before 
he thought himself a very pious man ; now he feels that 
he is the worst man in the whole world. But hark ! there 
is a footstep at the door. It is a messenger sent by God 
to comfort him. He tells him of the blood that cleanses from 
all sin, restores his sight, and the new convert, being filled with 
the Holy Spirit, goes forth to begin to work for Jesus, who has 
done so much for him. He conferred not with flesh and blood. 
Being baptised and added to the church, and having been 
called to the work of an apostle, he at once began to preach 
the faith which once he destroyed. The tongue of him who 
blasphemed the name of Jesus, is now eloquent in his praise, 
and glories in no other. How can we account for such a 
mighty change ? It was not the result of delusion or imagin- 
ation ; nor could it be a desire for honor, nor wealth, nor power, 



34^ THE world's hope. 

that induced him to make a mere profession of such a change, 
for he had to give up all these things in becoming a follower 
of Jesus. No, it was the power of God through the gospe) 
that alone did it. And that same power still goes forth in its 
transforming energy, subduing the hardest hearts to the love 
of Christ. 

Paul's cry had been, " Lord what wouldst thou have me to 
do.**" When he got an answer to this question, he imme- 
diately proceeded to do what was required of him. He did 
not ask for light only to disobey its requirements. Fast as the 
Lord' said to him, " This is the way," he was ready to walk in 
it. He did not think that his whole duty was done when he 
uttered the prayer ; but was diligent in finding out the Lord's 
will, and equally so in doing it. There are many who uttel 
such a prayer who refuse to do what the Lord points out be- 
cause it is disagreeable to their natural feelings. This is dis- 
honest praying. When we ask any thing of God we must be 
willing to have him answer it in his own way. He is infinitely 
wise and good, and his way of answering must be for our best 
good, in the end. ' When Paul followed out what the Lord 
would have him to do, it led him into great and peculiai 
trials. It led him into prison, and relentless persecutions, and 
personal sufferings, the mere recital of which causes our souls 
to shudder within us. So we often ask the Lord to make us 
holy and heavenly minded, and he answers us in a way that 
fills us with alarm, and looks more like judgments than lov- 
ing answers to our supplications. By the death of friends, by 
the loss of property, by sickness and pain, and by other unex- 
pected ways, God seeks to loose us from the world and draw us 
nearer to himself. "Be still and know that I am God.' 

After his conversion, Paul lost no time in preaching Christ 
to the souls around him. He began in Damascus, where he 
continued for three years, excepting a short time spent in re- 
tirement in Arabia. He felt a strong solicitude for the souls 
of his own countrymen, the Jews, and poured out his prayers 
for their salvation with intense earnestness. With unremitting 
zeal, and untiring fidelity, he presents to their minds the gos- 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 349 

pel of the grace of God in their synagogues and other places 
of public resort. In season and out of season, in public and 
in private, whether they would hear or forbear, he fails not, 
night and day with tears, to warn them of coming wrath if they 
continued in unbelief, and with all the tenderness of love to 
invite them to Jesus. 

This love to souls is a common characteristic of converts to 
Jesus. So much is this the case, that if a man or woman pro- 
fesses to have come to the Savior, and yet does not at once 
begin to pray and to labor for the salvation of souls, especially 
for that of their own kindred, it is a sure sign that such a person 
is deceived or deceiving. It is true there are degrees in this 
love to souls according to the faith of the person converted. 
When it rises to a high degree of fervor, so as to become a 
ruling passion of the mind, it indicates a high state of piety. 
This was the case with Paul ; with him it swayed and con- 
trolled his whole nature. He had a passion for souls. Most 
persons have a wish to obtain money because of what it can 
obtain, or of the good that can be done with it ; but the miser 
has a controlling passion for it. His whole soul is given up to 
it. He loves to look at it, to count it over and to add to his 
heap day by day. So, in like manner, all Christians wish to 
see souls saved ; for this they pray and labor to some extent. 
But there has always been a few choice spirits — a few elect 
souls of our race, whose love to souls has been so great as to 
cast all the common feelings and eiforts of their fellow disci- 
ples far into the shade. Such was Paul. He had great sorrow 
and heaviness of heart for those yet in their sins. A whole 
city given over to idolatry stirred his soul to its very depth 
and brought forth from him an appeal so eloquent in its ear- 
nestness that it has moved the souls of men all the way down 
through the ages till the present hour. 

The love of such men to the souls of the perishing gives us 
a very touching proof of the love of God. It is a little of his 
Spirit that produced such love for souls in the hearts of Paul, 
Luther, Calvin, Whitfield, Wesley, Carey, Judson, and hun- 
dreds of others; and if a little of God's Spirit produces such 



350 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

love for sinners, O how great must be the love that dwells in 
the Divine bosom from whence that little flows forth. It is 
but a very little of God's spirit that the human heart can con- 
tain. One to whom God imparted much of himself, cried out, 
"Lord, stay thy hand; thy frail vessel can hold no "more." 
More would have consumed the body of clay. How great 
then, is Infinite Love! God only knows the love of God." 
Only an infinite mind can iathom the infinite ; well, therefore, 
might it be said of the Divine Love, that it " passeth knowl- 
edge." Still, we can know enough of it to change the heart 
from its natural enmity, to fill it with the confidence of faith, 
and to impart the peace that passeth all understanding. 

Before leaving the subject of Paul's change of heart we must 
notice the full assurance of his faith. From the first moment 
of his receiving the Lord Jesus, till that moment when he laid 
his head on the block, he never seems to have had a doubt of 
his acceptance with God. He feels deeply his inward cor* 
ruption of heart — the remains of sin yet unsubdued ; he speaks 
strongly of his former sinful course, calling himself the chief 
of sinners, the least of all saints, and not worthy to be called 
an apostle ; but never does he doubt the love of the Savior 
who called him by his grace. His language is always that of 
the confidence of faith. " He loved 7ne^ and gave himself for 
mey "I know in whom I have believed." He does not live 
under a cloud of doubt, groping about amid clouds of uncer- 
tainty, writing bitter things against himself, and uttering a 
whine of fear for his future, instead of a strong, joyous shout 
of gospel gladness. Such is dishonoring to God and to our 
holy religion ; and more likely to send men into the gloom of 
monks' cells or hermits' caves, than out into the world with the 
glowing, healthy love of a true Christian philanthropy. 

The love of Christ was the grand constraining power that 
governed him, and all his movements among men were made 
that he " might save some." This gives a certain unity and 
purpose to all he does and says, that delights and charms us 
as we study his history. Whether we see him making tents, or 
standing before kings and making them tremble before his 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 35 1 

manly appeals and impassioned eloquence, he is always the 
same. 

Into whatever company he is thrown, he shows himself a 
master spirit. In circumstances that would depress others his 
brave heart is cheerful, and always rises to the necessities of 
the occasion. Whether standing on the deck of a ship swept 
by a tempest and drifting on a lee shore, or standing on Mars 
Hill surrounded by the philosophers and critics of the age, he 
is equally calm and self-possessed. There is a noble inde- 
pendence about him that makes him stand up before the profli- 
gate Agrippa and persecuting Roman officers as their judge 
rather than one put upon trial ; shaking his chains proudly as 
badges 'of honor, and making wickedness and oppression shrink 
and tremble before the glance of his eye. And there was 
nothing either cynical or stoic in his nature. A more tender 
heart, and one more susceptible to the warm glow of friend- 
ship never beat in human bosom. A cold nature may be 
respected or feared, but seldom loved ; but Paul drew warm 
hearts around him wherever he went — hearts that would have 
shed their blood for his welfare. We see the proof of this in 
the many scenes of parting tenderness recorded in the history 
of his missionary journeys and in his own words to his weep- 
ing friends, " What mean ye to weep and to break my heart ?" 

The labors of this great missionary of the Cross were 
brought to a close in Damascus, by a conspiracy among the 
Jews to take his life. He was no fanatic ; he did not court 
danger nor unnecessarily expose his life to peril. He remem- 
bered the precept of our Lord, " When they persecute you 
in one city, flee ye to another." Let down over the wall of 
the city in a basket, in the darkness of the night, he escaped 
from his enimies, and went to Jerusalem to form the acquaint- 
ance and enjoy the fellowship of the Christians in that city. 
The brethren there were somewhat shy in receiving him. They 
well remembered his former mad career of blood-thirsty 
vengeance ; and perhaps not having received any satisfactory 
account of his conversion they were disposed to look coldly on 
his professions. We gften pray for the conversion of great 



352 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

sinners, and when God hears our prayers in this respect we 
find it hard to believe that he has really done so. Barnabas 
related to the brethren what the Lord had done for Paul, when 
he was cordially received by the church as a brother beloved. 

His intercourse with them was of short duration. Persecu- 
tion drove him from their improving society to Tarsus, his 
native city. Here he labored diligently in preaching the gos- 
pel, but with what success we are not told. At length Barna- 
bas took him to Antioch, the capital of Syria, where they 
labored together for a year with great success. A large church 
was here gathered, and here it was that the word so dear to 
our hearts was first used to designate the people of God. The 
disciples of Jesus were first called, by way of reproach. Christ- 
ians by the people of this city. Little did the man think who 
first used it, that it would become the most honored name on 
earth ; and that in the great day of account, when all worldly 
titles shall be of no avail, this name properly applied to any 
one, will be a passport to immortal glory. 

From this place Paul and Barnabas went forth upon a long 
missionary tour, after being set apart to the work by solemn 
prayer and fasting by the whole church. They arrived at 
another Antioch, a large city in Pisidia, where was a Jewish 
Synagogue, in which Paul delivered one of his most notable 
discourses. 

As this is the first of his addresses of which we have any 
extended report, let us dwell for a moment on its chief points. 
And first we are struck with its appropriateness. Spoken to a 
Jewish audience, it at once secured their attention by recount- 
ing the dealings of God with their fathers ; and sought their 
spiritual profit by a most skillful application of these historical 
facts to their present condition. With an affectionate man- 
ner, and in a way least likely to give offence, he introduces the 
saving doctrines of the cross. Then comes a direct personal 
appeal, and that faithful application of the truth to the con- 
science, without which the most eloquent sermon is only like 
flourishing a sword, without edge or point. He tells them that 
salvation by Jesus, is now brought very near to them : " Unto 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 353 

you is the word of this salvation sent." The forgiveness of 
sin is offered them by faith in the blood shed on Calvary ; and 
they are told of the utter impossibility of being justified by 
the deeds of the law. In closing up he tells them that the 
blessings of the gospel are for all, without distinction, whether 
Jews or Gentiles. (See Acts xiii : ;^S, 39.) In this discourse the 
apostle shows not only the skill of the orator but the faithful- 
ness to souls and the whole hearted earnestness of the true 
minister of Jesus Christ. There is nothing unnecessary said, 
and nothing left out essential to the salvation of his hearers. 

This discourse, of which we have only an out-line, was 
intended to be introductory to others, in which the truth as it 
is in Jesus would be more fully set forth. Earnest inquiry 
was awakened and a desire expressed for more instruction on 
the great gospel themes. It is worthy of notice, that this re- 
quest came chiefly from the heathen portion of the hearers. 
The Jews who had been greatly favored of heaven, to whom 
the oracles of truth had been committed, and to whom in the 
first place the Savior had come, organized a strong opposition 
against the truth ; so that next Sabbath, when the people came 
together in great numbers to hear Paul, these Jews " contra- 
dicted and blasphemed," and got up a furious persecution. 
The apostles met this emergency with great boldness and 
promptitude, and turning to the Jews, said, " It was necessary 
that the word of God should first have been spoken to you ; 
but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselxes unworthy 
of everlasting life, lo ! we turn to the Gentiles." And shaking 
off the dust of their feet as a testimony against them, they 
departed from the place. Paul swung loose from all the prej- 
udices that might bind him to any one people or nation, and 
felt that the whole world was his parish ; and that obligation 
was laid upon him to preach the gospel to the whole human 
race, as opportunity offered. 

We cannot follow the great apostle through all his labors. 
We have seen him last among his own countrymen ; let us now 
see him among the heathen. We see him enter Lystra as one 
earnestly desiring the good, both temporal and spiritual, of 



354 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

the whole family of man. He felt himself as acting under the 
commission of Jehovah, as laid under obligations to preach 
the gospel to every creature ; and hence he ignored all lines of 
distinction between tribes and nations and races of people ; 
and in his own emphatic words, he felt himself " a debtor both 
to the Greeks and to the barbarians ; both to the wise and to 
the unwise." 

In Lystra, Paul's first act awoke the attention, nay, the en- 
thusiasm of the whole population. In the name and by the 
power of the Lord Jesus, he caused a man to walk who had 
been lame from his birth. This ignorant and benighted people 
gazed in wonder upon the apostles, and thought that the gods, 
according to their heathen notions, had come down in the form 
of men. Under this impression they were proceeding to offer 
them worship, the priest of Jupitqj- bringing forth victims to 
be sacrificed ; when the apostles, filled with horror, rushed out 
among the people, exclaiming against the wickedness about to 
be done and assuring the people that they w^ere only men, 
with all the common passions and imperfections of other men. 

The remarks here made were adapted to the people. He 
does not begin by appealing to the sacred Scriptures, as he 
did when addressing the Jews ; for of these they knew noth- 
ing. He bade them look at the book of creation, and to the 
great law of conscience written within them by the finger of 
God. He sought to lead them to God as the bountiful pro- 
vider of all the blessings they enjoyed, and to turn them from 
their lying vanities to the Lord of heaven and of earth. We 
see how it was that this apostle became " all things unto all 
men," in order that he might save their souls. 

Alas ! how uncertain is the breath of human applause. 
Some persecuting Jews got among the people, and so poisoned 
their minds against Paul, that the very multitude that were 
going to worship him but a little before, now began to stone 
him ; and dragging him out of their city, left him for dead. 
Dead he was not, however, for God had more work for him to 
do; and while some of the disciples stood sorroufully around 
him, his consciousness returned, and he went back with them 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 355 

into the city. In a short time we again find him in his Master's 
service, — work from which no terrors of earth or hell could 
turn him aside. 



356 THE WORLD S HOPE. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. [Continued.] 

Passing by many events of interest in the labors and travels 
of the great apostle, let us see him in Philippi, laboring in 
word and doctrine .with great zeal. Under his labors many 
souls had been saved, churches planted and built up in the 
faith of the gospel. Guided by the Holy Spirit he had trav- 
ersed a large part of Asia, till by means of a very solemn 
call he was led to cross into Europe and proclaim the good 
news in Macedonia. 

At Philippi some remarkable events occurred. At a certain 
place set apart for prayer, and where many women were 
assembled, Paul preached the Gospel, and one of his hearers 
was brought to Jesus, proving the beginning of a large and 
flourishing church. The Lord opened Lydia's heart so that 
she attended to the things spoken by the messenger of heaven. 
She first became an eager hearer, and then a true believer; 
for "faith cometh by hearing." Others heard the same words 
spoken, but they let them pass as the idle wind, while she 
received the truth into an honest heart, and became an inher- 
itor of eternal life. And, not only was she personally blessed, 
but a most precious blessing was brought through her to the 
members of her household. We do not know their numbers 
nor their ages; we only know that they were old enough to 
believe in Jesus, and to make an intelligent profession of that 
faith by being baptized, according to the Lord's command. 

There was here a damsel who was possessed of a demon. 
She professed to have the power of divination, and, being a 
slave, brought her owners great gain. She followed Paul and 
his fellow-laborers with words of high approval, declaring pub- 
licly that they were the true servants of the living God. This 
was a cunning trick of the devil. He wished to make it appear 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 357 

to the multitude, that the apostles were in league with this 
impostor, so that discredit might be brought upon the gospel. 
Paul defeated this design by commanding the evil spirit to 
come out of her. This was an unexpected blow to those who 
had reaped large pecuniary profits from her deceptions; and 
filled with rage, they stirred up the populace against the heralds 
of the gospel. For a mob to act unreasonably and unjustly does 
:not surprise us; it is what we expect. But in this case the 
magistrates treated them basely. They condemned them with- 
out a fair trial, they caused them to be severely scourged, and 
with their bodies bleeding, casting them into a loathsome 
prison, had their feet made fast in the stocks. We might expect 
that under these circumstances the servants of the Lord would 
have been much depressed ; but instead of that, they make the 
prison ring with their songs of praise to God and the Lamb. 
Our Lord told his followers that when persecuted for his sake, 
^hey should " rejoice and be exceeding glad ; " and here was 
im illustration of this truth. All was discomfort without them, 
Dut all was peace within. Into that prison they carried two 
blessings that never fail to make their possessors happy — a 
good conscience, and the favor of God. With these, if it were 
possible for a man to go to hell itself, it would be a heaven to 
him. 

The apostles sang praises and the prisoners heard them. 
The God of heaven also heard them, and appeared for their 
deliverance. An earthquake comes rumbling through the 
deep foundations of nature, shakes the prison to its found- 
ation, while the jailor, aroused suddenly out of his sleep, and 
seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about 
to kill himself, because he supposed the prisoners had all 
escaped. But Paul arrested his wicked design by crying with 
a loud voice, " Do thyself no harm ; for we are all here." 
Then, after procuring a light, he came trembling, before them, 
with the words, which have broken from many a heart pierced 
by the sword of the Spirit, " What must I do to be saved ? " 
Truly the most imi)ortant question ever uttered by human lips; 
and he has come to the right quarter for an answer. He might 



35^ THE world's hope. 

have gone to all the most brilliant orators and philosophers of 
Greece and Rome, and none of them could have given a reply, 
that would at once satisfy the deep spiritual wants of the soul, 
and at the same time be pleasing to God. But the answer 
given was beautiful in its heavenly simplicity : " Believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 

This man became a true convert. He brought the apostles 
out of their confined and painful condition, washed their bleed- 
ing bodies, and set before them needed refreshment. He also 
obeyed the Lord in the ordinance of baptism, in wkich he was 
joined by the members of his household, they also having joy- 
fully received the truth. 

And here we cannot but admire the wonderful simplicity of 
the gospel. Here is a man but a few moments before a hard- 
ened sinner, now a child of God. He felt himself a sinner, he 
wanted to be saved, and wanted to know how this could be 
done. He is sent upon no long pilgrimage ; no severe penances 
are appointed him to endure ; no methods of making himself 
better are spoken of; no long course of deep convictions and 
terrors, a kind of mental purgatory, are said to be necessary 
to fit him for Christ. No. Just as he is, without one moment's 
delay, he is told to believe in Christ as his Savior. The result 
was that there and then he obtained the pardon of his sins, and 
was received for Jesus' sake into the favor of God. He was 
not merely hoping to be saved when he came to die, but he 
knew that he 7vas a saved man now. " He that believeth on the 
Son of God hath life;" and that life is eternal. It can never 
be taken from him. " I give unto them eternal life, and they 
shall never perish." 

If Jesus has revealed himself as a Savior, that implies the 
eternal safety of every one who commits his soul to him. Here 
the soul can rest with unshaken confidence. Christ's work is 
perfect, and he who rests upon that work is perfectly saved. 
A man may know systems of theology, and preach them and 
contend for their truth, and yet, be lost forever, but to take 
Jesus by faith as his surety before God, is to have eternal life. 
Trust in Christ lies at the foundation of all true religion. This 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 359 

only is the Divine plan of saving. It stands forth in the Bible 
as above all things in eternal importance. We can clearly see 
God's hand in creation, but if we would see his hearty and know 
how he feels towards us, we must see him in Christ. There we 
see a Father that can love us in all our misery and guilt , who 
has loved us with a love so vast as to astonish all heaven, and 
would astonish all earth, were it not for the unbelief of men. 

On the cross we see Christ dying for the whole world, not 
for a particular class, or nation, or caste. Being love, God is 
the same to all. Love is his very nature, and goes towards the 
most unworthy. Whatever men may think, whatever they may 
say, whatever they may feel of fear and doubt, and almost 
despair, under a sense of their own unworthiness, yet, if they 
are ever to have peace here or hereafter, it must be by faith in . 
God's love to them, as shown through Christ. Here only is 
peace and rest for the guilty sinner ; a salvation full, free, 
boundless, and not depending upon the good that may be found 
in the sinner, but upon the perfect worthiness that may be 
found in Christ. 

This love of God can never fail the trusting soul, for it reigns 
through righteousness. The law had said, " The soul that sin- 
neth it shall die." Christ came forth to die in our stead. He 
condemned sin, honored the demands of the law by satisfying 
its every claim, and saves the sinner. This love is a holy love. 
" On Jesus' cross this record's graved, 
Let sin be damned, and sinners saved." 

It is a love that acts in harmony with holiness and justice. 
And these attributes of Goci's nature are satisfied by the atone- 
ment that satisfies the conscience of the sinner. Ah ! what can 
we say, as we look at this wonderful plan of mercy ? We are 
at a loss for words, and can only use those of the world's 
Redeemer, "God so loved the world." 

We must now proceed with our narrative of Paul's works of 
faith and labors of love. Passing over his visit to Thessalo- 
nica and Berea, let us see him at Athens. We associate with 
the name of Washington all that is great and noble in patriot- 
ism ; and so to the mind of a learned heathen, the very men- 



360 THE world's hope. 

tion of Athens called up all that was great in the arts and the 
sciences. Thoughtful men and ardent minds from all the sur- 
rounding country resorted to that city, and in gardens and 
olive-shaded walks, as well as in its halls of learning, they 
discussed their various mental speculations, and listened to 
the teachings of the great philosophers of the age, with pro- 
found admiration. It was into this place that Paul came, bring- 
ing with him that which could alone make the people wise unto 
salvation. As a scholar and as a man of a highly cultivated 
mind, there was much in that proud city to interest him Its 
splendid buildings, its beautiful temples, its sages, its poets, 
and orators, with its lofty fame and historic remembrances, 
were all calculated to attract the attention of a man of culture, 
like the apostle. But his heart was so filled with sorrow at 
the sight of a whole city given over to sin, that he could pay 
but little attention to mere sight-seeing. He looked upon them 
as probationers for eternity, not as the mere creatures of a day ; 
and when he considered how rapidly that probation was com- 
ing to a close, he felt there was not a moment to lose. Hence 
he began to preach to them the blessed gospel of the grace of 
God. 

Paul takes his stand upon Mars Hill, and around him gath- 
ers a mixed assembly. There are the philosophers of the op- 
posing schools, the Cynic, the Stoic, and the Epicurian; some 
with a look of contempt upon their faces, and others giving 
expression to a bitter sneer, as they draw near to listen to the 
apostle. There stands that plain, earnest man, calm and self- 
possessed, and reposing, in that exciting hour of solemn respon- 
sibility, upon his Lord's promise, " Lo ! I am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world." And he soon showed them that 
he was no ignorant pretender who wanted to obtain a little 
brief notoriety. In the use of the closest logic and the dialec- 
tic art, he showed that he was perfectly at home. He quotes 
from their poets, and shows such a familiarity with their own 
literature as must have astonished them. He showed them that 
with all their intelligence and general knowledge in regard to 
the character of the true God, they were as ignorant as the 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 361 

rudest barbarians. Their idol worship did not satisfy the strong 
longings and cravings of their souls after the Infinite ; and in 
their blind groping about after the knowledge of something 
better, they erected a notable altar, inscribing upon it, "To 
THE Unknown God." It was a bold step which Paul took 
when he exposed their superstitions, and presented to them 
the great truths of the gospel. He was there single-handed 
and alone. There were no friends to protect him, should his 
bold attack upon their ancestral religion, cause them to rush 
upon him with the fury of sudden passion. But he had faced 
too many mobs and been too often delivered to be afraid now ; 
and even had he known that his last hour had come, he would 
not have shunned to declare unto them the whole truth. 

Of the apostle's discourse on this occasion but a mere out- 
line is reported. He sets forth the character and perfections 
of the true and living God, for such a knowledge must lie at 
the foundation of all acceptable worship. " He that cometh to 
God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of 
them who diligently seek him." He showed them, also, that 
the great Creator presided, by an overruling and minute prov- 
idence, over all the works of his hands. That all things, great 
or small, the affairs of an obscure individual or of vast com- 
munities, are all under his governmental sway ; for in God we 
live, and move, and have our being. He taught them that 
this great Being was not far from any of them, striking thus 
at the very root of their false philosophy and idolatrous wor- 
ship, and making them feel personally responsible for every 
act of their lives. 

But he did not leave them here, else had they been little 
better than before. To know that God is ever near us, and 
that he holds us responsible for all the actions of our lives, can 
bring no peace to a sinner. We want to know if He loves us, 
and if He will pardon our sins. But Paul was not the man to 
leave out the gospel of Christ on such an important occasion. 
He was not preaching for the applause of his hearers, but for 
their profit. He was trying to win their souls, not their favor. 
In what he had said he was only clearing the way for the all- 



362 THE world's hope. 

mportant message of salvation. He preached to them a sal- 
vation already perfect ; a plan of mercy existing in the Divine 
mind from all eternity, and now revealed to a guilty world by 
the death of Jesus upon the cross. This Jesus, of whom they 
were now hearing for the first time, died for them ; his salva- 
tion was offered to them ; it was in every way adapted to their 
wants, and without it they must perish. 

What success attended this sermon ? It is the old story that 
must be told in regard to that. Some mocked ; some hesitated, 
wavered, were almost convinced, but delayed ; and some 
promptly took Christ as their Savior. There is nothing that 
shows more clearly the awful depravity of the human heart, 
than the reception they give to the gospel, who hear it U3ider 
the most favorable circumstances. The preacher may be the 
most able and earnest — a Paul, or even the Lord Jesus himself; 
the truths spoken may be as well adapted to the case of the 
hearer as Divine inspiration can make them ; the evidence for 
the truth of the statements made may be invulnerable — the 
logic perfect in every shining link ; the understanding of the 
hearer may be convinced, and even his conscience enlightened, 
so that he approves the truth to which he listens ; and yet, so 
great is the opposition of the natural heart to the humbling 
plan of salvation, that not one soul would ever receive it, were 
it not for the power of the Holy Spirit, in applying the truth. 
This comforts the hearts of those who preach. No words that 
they can use, no arguments that they can advance, no power 
of human eloquence can convert souls ; but there is a Divine 
Agent present who can apply the truth to the sinner's heart 
with mighty power. To the soul unenlightened by the Spirit, 
the gospel is treated as foolishness; but to those to whom it is 
brought with power, it is the wisdom of God. 

That so few received the gospel in Athens, compared to 
some other places, is a solemn lesson as to the effect of pride 
of intellect in leading men to reject the Savior. Our Lord 
rejoiced in spirit, that the things which men wise in the esti- 
mation of the world despised, were clearly apprehended and 
loved, by those who might be called babes in knowledge ; and 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 2^;^ 

Paul said, " Where is the wise ^ where is the scribe ? where is 
the disputer of this world ? Hath, not God made foolish the 
wisdom of this world ? " A man must become as a little child 
in humility and simplicity of spirit, before he can enter Christ's 
holy kingdom. Many great and distinguished men have come 
to the adorable Savior, but they did not come as such, but as 
poor, lost sinners. And to all who come in that way the arms 
of his mercy are ever open. He will in no wise cast out. 

We next find the apostles in Corinth. This was a large and 
populous city, abounding in wealth, and remarkable for the 
magnificence of many of its buildings. In regard to morality, 
its people were proverbial for their wickedness. As it was the 
mart of the world, luxury and dissipation abounded. It has 
been called the Paris of antiquity, because of its gayety and 
corruption. Its very religion was debasing, the principal deity 
which they worshiped being Venus, the goddess of licentious- 
ness. Here Paul began to preach Christ crucified, first among 
the Jews, and when they rejected the truth, he turned to the 
Gentiles. He had at this time great distress and depression 
of mind. He says he was with them in much weakness, and 
in fear and trembling. No doubt the sight of the wickedness 
around him, the contempt and insult with which the name of 
his divine Master had been treated, and the slight prospect of 
doing any good there, tended to produce this effect upon his 
mind. He had evidently thought of leaving the place before 
his work was done ; for the Lord appeared to him in a vision 
of the night, saying, " Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not 
thy peace ; for I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee 
to hurt thee, for I have much people in this place." 

Encouraged and emboldened by this promise, Paul continued 
to preach in this city for a year and six months , and with 
cheering success. A large church was gathered, to whom he 
afterwards addressed two epistles. Some of those who were 
converted had been among the lowest and most abandoned of 
the people of that wicked city, and thus became monuments 
of God's mercy, and of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus to 
cleanse from all sin. Some persons of rank and influence 



364 THE world's hope. 

were also among the converts; such as Chrispus, aruler of the 
synagogue. It was at this place that he wrote his epistles to 
the Thessalonians ; and in the opinion of many, the epistle to 
the Galatians was also written in this city. 

It was while in this place that he met with two persons of 
eminent piety, and well instructed in the Scriptures. These 
were Aquila and his wife, Priscilla. They had been banished 
from Rome on account of their love to the blessed gospel, and 
with them the apostle took up his abode, and supported him- 
self, for a time, by working at his trade. This devoted Chris- 
tian couple were truly patterns of all that is ex*cellent in the 
walks of private life. In a quiet, unostentatious way they did 
good to all as they had opportunity, and their names find 
honorable mention in the sacred record, on several occasions. 
When Apollos, a man of great eloquence, but imperfectly 
informed as to the doctrines of Christ, began to preach where 
they lived, they took him to their quiet home and explained to 
him the way of the Lord clearly. They could not preach 
themselves, but they could make the plan of salvation plainer 
to one who had the gift of eloquence, and who could sway and 
interest the listening crowd. They could not reason and write 
like Paul, but they could give him the comforts of a home, 
cheer and comfort him by the warmth of a true Christian 
friendship, and hold up his hands by believing prayer. None 
need be idle in Christ's vineyard if they are only willing to do 
the work, however humble, that is laid to their hands 

We next find the apostle in labors more abundant in the 
city of Ephesus. What a glorious sight is a powerful intellect, 
a strong will, and a persuasive eloquence, all devoted to the 
glory of God — the whole soul, body and spirit, given up to 
the Lord's service, as the great business of life. Such was 
Paul. No sooner does he see the cause of Christ established 
in one place, than he pushes on to enter another field of 
untouched heathenism. He does not pause to enjoy rest and 
the delights of fellowship w^ith his Christian brethren, for 
which he had the highest relish , but presses forward to work 
while it is called to-day, and waiting for the long rest of heaven. 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 365 

Ephesus was at one time regarded as the most splendid city 
in Asia Minor. There stood the Temple of Diana, said to 
have been four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, and 
two hundred and twenty feet in breadth. It had one hundred 
and twenty-seven pillars, each ot which was sixty feet in height. 
It will be seen, then, that this city was one of the strong-holds 
of idolatry ; and Paul remained longer here than at any other 
one place, as if determined to do what he could to establish 
a strong church of Christ there. In preaching the word o( 
God it was evidently his plan to first plant strong churches in 
the large cities, as great centers of influence and power, from 
which the gospel would sound forth. Those places, especially 
where the most splendid temples were built to the gods, were 
the fields of moral labor where he most earnestly and perse- 
veringly toiled. This accounts for his spending three whole 
years of his active life in Ephesus ; and it was doubtless for the 
same reason that John spent so many years as pastor of the 
church there. 

The apostle began his work of faith and love in this city by 
preaching in the synagogues of the Jews ; and for three months, 
by powerful arguments and touching appeals, sought to bring 
them to Christ. But they were so filled with prejudices and 
enmity against the gospel that he left them, and in a public 
school in the city, preached to all who came in, the unsearch- 
able riches of Christ. To arrest public attention and to con- 
firm the truth, he was permitted to perform many miracles ; 
such as healing all kinds of diseases, and casting out demons, 
in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

In connection with this latter act a remarkable circumstance 
occurred. Some Jews who pretended to the power of casting 
out demons began to imitate Paul, and in their adjurations 
used the Savior's blessed name. The seven sons of a Jewish 
priest while doing this, were confounded by the evil spirit say- 
ing, "J^sus I know, and Paul I know ; but who are ye? " And 
the possessed flew upon them with great fury, so that they had 
to flee from the house naked and wounded. This created a 
great sensation, both among the Jews and the Greeks, and a 



356 THE world's hope. 

solemn dread fell upon the minds of men. Great numbers 
were converted, and gave striking evidence of the reality of 
the change, by bringing forth their bad books and publicly 
committing them to the flames. As in this case the pecuniary 
sacrifice was very great, their sincerity could not be doubted. 

I once saw a case of this kind occur in a powerful revival. 
A man had been converted, who was engaged in the sale of 
intoxicating drinks. Next morning he went into his bar room, 
after having had prayer with his family for the first time. He 
saw one after another of his bloated customers come in to get 
their accustomed morning potion ; and as he thought of their 
present and future misery, the guilt of his business burst upon 
his mnid in all its horror. He had his barrels of liquor rolled 
out into the street and their contents poured forth ; and as the 
stream ran down the street, a dark torrent of death, many a 
prayer went up for the wretched victims of intemperance. Yes, 
in modern as well as in ancient times, the gospel is " mighty to 
the pulling down of strong holds." 

Great good was being done in Ephesus ; and, of course, Sa- 
tan began to rage. The apostle described the state of things 
very aptly in the words, " A great door and effectual is opened 
unto me, and there are many adversaries." Demetrius was a 
man, who made great profits by the worship of Diana, and 
fearing that if Paul was allowed to go on preaching his gains 
would be at an end, he gathered together a furious mob, who 
thirsted for the apostle's blood. We can nowhere get a bet- 
ter picture of an unreasoning mob than is here presented. 
There they are, filling the streets, heaving to and fro like the 
waves of the ocean, a sea of upturned faces inflamed with dead- 
ly hate, and shouting for two hours, " Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians." No wonder that the apostle said he "fought with 
beasts at Ephesus." 

When the time came that he must leave this place, it was 
evidently with feelings of deep sorrow that he parted from his 
dear Christian friends. His parting address to the elders of 
the church is most touching and affecting. He appealed to them 
as to the purity of his conduct while among them, and as to 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 367 

the earnestness with which he had sought the7)i not theirs. He 
told them that in his purposed journey, he knew only one 
thing, namely that bonds and affliction would be his portion ; 
and then comes that noble and heroic statement, " But none 
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto my- 
self, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the minis- 
try, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God." 

He then tells them that they should see his face no more ; 
and warned them against the designs of evil men, who would 
seek to divide them, and lead them astray from the faith of the 
gospel. Then kneeling down he prayed with them, and they 
parted, to see each other no more on earth. The whole scene 
is most tender and affecting. They loved him and felt as if 
they could not give him up. They wept bitterly, fell upon his 
neck and kissed him, and felt as if their hearts would break, 
as they thought that they should see him no more on the shores 
of time. What a beautiful character we see in Paul ! Firm 
as a rock where firmness is needed, and yet gentle and loving 
as a woman among his friends. His loving and affectionate 
spirit won the hearts of the people every where ; and his terri- 
ble rebukes made the enemies of the truth to tremble. A 
warmer heart never beat in human bosom ; and yet, where duty 
required, he could be severely stern, even to his friends. 

Among all men he so lived and spoke as to be clear of their 
blood, in the great day of account. 

Paul sailed from Miletus and landed at Tyre. Here he 
spent several days, comforting and edifying the church. One 
of his friends, who had the prophetic power, told him that he 
would be imprisoned and delivered over to the Roman power. 
He was urged by his brethren to give up his intended visit to 
Jerusalem ; but he was not to be turned aside by the tears of 
friends or the threats of foes, when duty called him. Arrived 
at Jerusalem he took up his abode with an aged disciple named 
Mnason. He visited the apostle James, and in the presence of 
the elders told what a great work of grace God wrought, by 
his means, among the Gentiles. The church gave him a cor- 



368 THE world's hope. 

dial greeting and glorified God for the great good done by his 
ministry. The Jews were strongly prejudiced against him, and 
on his first public appearance raised a mob against him, beat 
him, and would have taken his life had not Lysias, a Roman 
officer, with armed men, come and rescued him out of their 
hands, and conducted him to the castle as a prisoner. Mean- 
time the mob followed, shouting with great fury, as they did 
with his divine Master, *' Away with him." 

Paul got permission from the captain to speak to the people ; 
and when they heard him address them in Hebrew, they were 
silent. We cannot dwell on this speech. He related his con- 
version, and referred to his past life as a zealous persecutor of 
the faith of Christ ; but when he came to speak of his mission 
to the Gentiles, they broke out, crying, " Away with such a 
fellow from the earth !" 

The Roman officer, wanting to know more of this prisoner, 
commanded him to be examined by scourging. Preparatory to 
that being done, the soldiers were binding him with thongs, 
when he turned to the centurion and quietly said, " Is it lawful 
for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned .''" 
What a sudden change the words produce ! They are startled 
as if a bolt of lightning had fallen in their midst. Hands 
drop and eyes stare; and fear, at what they had already done 
in binding him, showed itself in their countenances. In great 
haste a superior officer came in to ask Paul if it was indeed 
true, that he was a Roman citizen. He assured him that it was^ 
and that he was free born. Thus Paul always stood up for 
his civil rights as a citizen, and on one occasion when these 
rights were trampled upon, he would not go out of prison, till 
the magistrates came in person and made an apology to him. 

Next day the apostle was called before the Jewish Sanhe- 
drim. The night before the Lord appeared before him, telling 
him to be of good cheer, and that he was to bear testimony for 
his name at Rome. No sooner had he begun to address the 
council, than Ananias, the high priest, commanded him to be 
struck upon the mouth. This was so manifestly unjust and 
insolent, that Paul turned to him and indignantly exclaimed. 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 369 

" God shall smite thee, thou vvhited wall ! for sittest thou to 
judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten con- 
trary to the law ?" This was a well deserved rebuke ; and we 
can imagine the glowing countenance and flashing eye with 
which the words were spoken. When told the official position 
of the man he rebuked, he partially apologized for his words ; 
for it is often proper to show that respect to the office which 
we cannot feel for the man that holds it. 

With a quick eye, Paul saw that the council was composed 
of Pharisees and Sadducees ; and with great readiness he re- 
marked that for his belief in the resurrection of the dead, he 
had been accused by his countrymen. As the Sadducees did 
not believe that there was any resurrection, nor any spiritual 
existence, there was a division and strife among them ; the re- 
sult of which was, that the prisoner was still left in the hands of 
the Roman governor. Finding that the Jews had formed a 
conspiracy to kill his wonderful prisoner, to protect whom he 
felt in honor bound, he sent him down, under a large military 
escort, to the Roman Castle at Cesarea. 

The Jews still pursued him with relentless hatred. When 
Festus became governor of Judea, on his first visit to Jerusa- 
lem they brought great charges against Paul, and petitioned 
that he might be sent to that city, intending to murder him on 
the way. This plan was defeated, for Festus requested his ac- 
cusers to appear at Cesarea. And when they did make their 
appearance, Festus, in order to please the Jews, wanted to send 
him to Jerusalem ; but the apostle, seeing through the design, 
claimed the privilege, as a Roman citizen, to be tried before 
the emperor, and therefore boldly appealed unto Caesar. 

But before following him to Rome, let us notice his two pub- 
lic appearances — that before Felix and before King Agrippa. 
In regard to Felix, the Roman governor, Tacitus gives him 
this character : " In the practice of all kinds of lust and cruelty 
he exercised the power of a King v/ith the temper of a slave." 
And certainly all that history tells us of him, fully justifies this 
description. The woman that he called his wife, he had seduced 
from her own lawful husband. This was the man before whom 



370 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Paul was called to make his defence. The high priest, together 
with leading men among the Jews and a celebrated and elo- 
quent lawyer, named Tertullus, were there as his accusers. 
The speech of this paid advocate against the apostle shows a 
good deal of ability, and in a very cunning way he mixes his 
charges, so as to make it appear that the prisoner had broken 
both the law of the Romans, and also the ecclesiastical law of 
the Jews. He spoke of him in the most contemptuous terms, 
as a pestilent fellow ; and one in ignorance of the facts, might 
have supposed that Paul was the ring-leader of the mob, instead 
of being the innocent victim of its senseless rage and cruelty. 

But Paul is upon his feet, and with all the tact and dignity 
of the perfect orator, begins his defense. By a clear and sim- 
ple statement of facts, he exposes the falsehoods that had been 
uttered against him ; till the tide of feeling turns in his favor, 
and his vindication is complete. Felix sent for Paul, some 
days after this, to hear more from him concerning the faith of 
Christ. The man of God, is not afraid of the vile libertine , 
nor has he any favors to ask of him. He no longer pleads his 
own case, but seeks to save the souls before him. What he 
said is not fully reported ; but we are told that he reasoned so 
powerfully, and spoke so faithfully, on the matters of righteous 
ness, temperance, and a judgment to come, that Felix trembled 
before the majesty of the truth. Like all convicted sinners, 
when they are not honest in resolving to give up their sins, he 
delayed the matter to some more convenient time, as he called 
it, which time, alas! never came. 

Before going to Rome, Paul had another opportunity of 
pleading the Savior's cause, before those whom the world calls 
great. King Agrippa and his wife Bernice paid a visit to Fe- 
lix, at Cesarea, and having heard much of Paul, desired to see 
him for themselves . An appointment was made, the court 
was called together, the principal officers of the army and the 
leading men of the city were there, and in all the glory of offi- 
cial dignity appeared Agrippa and his court . Before this 
great and brilliant assembly the apostle was to make his de- 
fense . It was a great occasion, but he was equal to it , It is 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 37 1 

the proof of true genius, that it rises, without much seeming ef- 
fort, to meet the calls that are made upon it, even when unex- 
pected. How great and Christ-like the apostle seemed on that 
day ! His manner is so dignified and respectful, and yet so 
manly and independent. He felt tenderly for the precious 
souls before him, and made strong efforts to carry their con- 
victions of mind and heart for Christ. We cannot dwell upon 
the address. We have but an outline of it, yet fragmentary as 
it is, we love to read it over and over. He relates his conver- 
sion, and the solemn and miraculous events connected with 
it. As the stream of his eloquence rushes on, his hearers are 
much impressed. It is too much for the conscience of Festus — 
he can keep still no longer, but with a loud voice exclaims, 
"Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee 
mad." An old trick of mad sinners is, to call those mad ^yho 
seek to save them from the ruin upon which they are rushing. 
To this rude interruption Paul makes a graceful reply, assur- 
ing thern that he spoke only the words of truth and soberness. 
Agrippa was a Jew, and therefore he makes to him the bold 
appeal, "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets ? I know 
that thou believest." The King was much moved, and said, 
"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Nothing 
could be more apt and beautiful than the apostle's response : 
"I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me 
this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, ex- 
cept these bonds." 

On Paul's voyage to Rome, I need not dwell. It was stormy 
and tedious. The ship was crowded and unfit to put to sea ; 
but Paul, though a prisoner, showed the power of a great mas- 
ter mind. In storm or in calm, in danger or in safety, he was 
always the same brave, joyful, self-denying spirit. When he 
was delivered over to the military commander at Rome, he 
was allowed the privilege of living in his own hired house, and 
he soon turned it into a place of prayer, and a place where 
Christians were confirmed in the faith and sinners converted. 
God did a great work by his servant in that city, so that the 
gospel found an entrance into the palace of Nero himself. How 



372 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



wonderful are God's ways ! He overrules the very wickedness 
of man to accomplish his designs of love. The fury of that 
mob at Jerusalem, and all the wrath of the Jews, only resulted 
in giving Paul opportunities of preaching Christ, in places and 
to persons, that he would not otherwise have had ; and results 
in the conversion of some in the household of Cesar. After 
two years, he had his trial before the emperor and was set at 
liberty. 

Paul then traveled, as before, for some years. He visited 
Spain, and some think France and Britain. He returned again 
to Rome, and, on some pretence, was cast into prison. During 
this imprisonment he wrote his Second Epistle to Timothy, 
evidently expecting soon to die for the cause of Christ. Chry- 
sostum says, that one of Nero's concubines was converted un- 
der the apostle's preaching; which yo enraged the tyrant that 
he first sent him to prison, and soon after had him put to death. 
That he met the last enemy with triumph, we may know from 
the words he addressed to Timothy ; "I am now ready to be 
offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have 
fought a good fight ; I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at 
that day ; and not to me o ily, but unto all them also that love 
his appearing." He has long been with Christ; that Savior 
that he loved so dearly and served so faithfully on earth, has 
wiped all tears from his eyes ; and in the joy of his presence, 
he forgets all the pains and the toils of the way. Let us fol- 
low him as he followed the adorable Redeemer. Such men 
are God's heroes. 

'* Not on the gory fields of fame 

Their noble deeds were done ; 
Not in the sounds of earth's acclaim 

Their fadeless crowns were won. 
Not from the palaces of Kings, 

Came the great souls, whose life-work flings 
Luster o'er earth and time. 



PAUL, THE APOSTLE OF THE GENTILES. 373 

"For truth with tireless zeal they sought ; 

In joyless paths they trod ; 
Heedless of praise or blame they wrought, 

And left the rest with God. 
The lowest sphere was not disdained ; 

Where love could soothe or save 
They went, by fearless faith sustained, 

Nor knew their deeds were brave." 



Part 1 1. 



NONE BUT CHRIST; 



OR 



The Sinner's Only Hope, 



" I bequeath to all my children, and to their children's children, to each of them a 
Bible, with this inscription: 'None but Christ.*"' — Dr. Harris. 

"Christ is all and in all." — Paul. 



NONE BUT CHRIST 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." i Cor. 5 : 7, 

It has been a universal custom among mankind to set up some 
monument or memorial to perpetuate the memory of import- 
ant events or of distinguished persons. By them the memory 
of great events is kept alive in the world with all the vividness 
and power of a present reality. We hear the voice of Wisdom 
addressing us across the gulf of centuries, and feel that we are 
instructed by the solemn experiences of the past. 

' Who has not been deeply affected by looking upon some me- 
morial of a dear friend ? The eye that once beamed upon us 
with affection may now be dimmed in death, and the heart that 
beat with a quicker throb at the mention of our name may now 
be still in the grave ; but as we look upon some little token of 
his friendship, his words, his looks, his many excellencies all 
come up before us with the freshness of his own living pres- 
ence. 

Our Heavenly Father makes use of this principle in our na- 
ture to impress upon us eternal things. In every age of the 
church's history he has been pleased, by symbols that appeal 
to the outward senses, to teach us important spiritual truth. 
Circumcision was established as a memorial of God's covenant 
with " The Father of the Faithful. " When the river Jordan 
was parted, and a dry path made for the mighty hosts of God 
to pass over, twelve stones were set up like so many pillars as 
a memorial of God's tender care for his people. The Lord's 
Supper — a memorial of our Savior's death and of our personal 

377 



378 THE world's hope. 

interest in it ; the Lord's Day — a memorial of Christ '§ resur- 
rection ; and Baptism — a memorial .of our deadness to the 
world and of our rising to the new life in Christ, are all illus- 
trations of the same thing. 

One of the greatest and most solemn festivals observed by 
the Jews, was that of the Passover. It was both com?7ie7?iorative 
and typical. It was commemorative of one of the greatest de- 
liverances which God wrought out for his favored people, 
Through the instrumentality of Moses God had scourged Egypt 
with a succession of severe plagues, to soften the hard heart of 
Pharaoh ; but these rebukes being resisted only hardened him 
more and more in his perverse opposition and his unrelenting 
tyranny. He drove Moses from his presence and threatened 
him with instant death should he ever again appear before him. 
The devoted servant of the Most High took the haughty op- 
pressor at his word, and bade him a solemn farewell. And 
now God himself begins to deal with him. Before this, Je- 
hovah had dealt with the haughty monarch through the medi- 
um of his chosen servant; but now it is no longer said, 
"Stretch out thy hand," or "Take the rod in thy hand," but 
it is said, "/will go out into 'the midst of Egypt." "And it 
came to pass that at midnight the Lord smote all the first-born 
in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat 
on the throne unto the first born of the captive that was in 
the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle," &c. — Ex. 12 : 29. 

What a night of accumulated horrors must that have 
been ! From house to house the destroying angel passes at 
the dark midnight hour, and parents see in bitterness of 
anguish the seal of death stamped upon the face of their first- 
born. The vivid description of the scene by the inspired 
penman is, " There shall be a great cry throughout all the land 
of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any 
more." To add to .the horror, this calamity occurs in the 
darkness of the night, and is universal. It falls with equal 
force upon all ranks and conditions of society ; and the palace 
rings with the voice of despair as well as the humblest abode 
of poverty. Amongst us, when the bereaved mother imprints 




JESUS, MY KING. 



THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 379 

her last kiss upon the brow of her dead, there are kind friends 
around to support her by their sympathies ; bul; here there was 
no such comfort, for all were wrapt up in their own bitter sor-« 
row, and sharers in one general calamity. 

But the houses of the children of Israel were safe in that 
terrible night. God had warned them of the coming destruc- 
tion, and told them of means which, if faithfully used, would 
place them in safety under the protection of Omnipotence. 
The means of safety were simple and within the reach of all. 
A lamb was to be slain, and the blood taken and put upon the 
side-posts of their doors; and wherever this was done the 
angel of death passed over, and the household was safe. 

That the Passover was typical of Christ is abundantly evi- 
dent from the Word of God. John 19 : 36. "These things 
were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, a bone of him 
shall not be broken ;" evidently referring to the Paschal lamb. 
And again, Paul said, " Christ our Passover was sacrificed for 
us." Let us, then, endeavor to get some precious Gospel 
instruction from this ancient type of the Lamb of God. 

It was doubtless in reference to the Paschal lamb that John 
the Baptist, who occupied a kind of middle place between 
the Old and the New Testament dispensations, pointed to Jesus 
and cri^d, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world." This title was given him, not only for his inno- 
cence, purity, meekness, and patience under suffering, but also 
to denote that he came as a sacrifice of greater dignity and 
worth than had ever been offered before. Hence he is called 
emphatically, and by way of preeminence, " The Lamb of 
God." To the great work of offering a sacrifice for the sins of 
men Jesus was appointed before the foundation of the world. 
This truth is clearly presented in the words of Peter, " Foras- 
much as ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as sil- 
ver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb 
without blemish and without spot, who verily was fore-or- 
dained before the foundation of the world." 

After man fell from the favor of God by rebellion, we are 
told, " Unto Adam and his wife did the Lord God make coats 



380 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

of skins,' no doubt the skins of animals slain in sacrifice, gar- 
ments dyed in blood, and typical of the robe of Christ's right- 
•eousness which God has provided for fallen man; arrayed in 
which he will be found " without fault," even amid the purity 
of heaven and in the presence of the infinitely Holy One. We 
read also that " Abel offered of the firstlings of his flock a 
Iamb," and as he saw its blood gushing forth, and gazed upon 
its dying struggles, he looked away by faith to the Lamb of 
God dying on Calvary. Hence he offered " a more excellent 
sacrifice than Cain," and was accepted of the Father, Indeed, 
no soul has ever been saved in any other way than through the 
shed blood of the Redeemer, nor can ever be saved in any 
other way. Before the death of Christ men were saved by faith 
in a Savior to come ; now men are saved by faith in a Savior 
who has come. The means of saving guilty man have always 
been the same, for " without the shedding of blood there is no 
remission of sins." 

The Paschal lamb was to be without blemish, a type of the 
sinless perfection of the Lamb of God. He was without 
blemish and without spot," and "did no sin, neither was guile 
found in his mouth." His most bitter enemies could not 
accuse him of sin. Even Judas, the vile, black-hearted trai- 
tor, exclaimed, "I have betrayed innocent blood." The 
vacillating, time-serving Pilate says, '' I find no fault in him." 
Jesus died innocent in a sense in which no being ever died 
before. Men have often died innocent of that particular 
crime for which they were condemned ; but Jesus was abso- 
lutely faultless. With him every day was like a holy Sabbath, 
every scene was sanctified by prayer, every journey was to do 
good, every word was the outspeaking of truth and love. And 
yet the very race for whom he came to die treated him with 
the bitterest contempt and hatred. A minister, once, preach- 
ing on virtue, said that such was the inherent love of the hu- 
man soul for goodness that if virtue were to come down from 
heaven personified, and walk through our earth, men would 
everywhere be found falling down before it and worshiping it 
Another minister preached in the same house and to the same 



THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 



381 



congregation in the evening of the same day, and referring to 
his statement, said that God had personified virtue in one 
whom he sent down among men in human form ; that he 
hved among men, prayed for men, pitied and wept over them, 
constantly did good among them — and instead of men falling 
down and worshiping him, as his brother had said, they 
cried, " Away with him," and cruelly murdered him ' 

But what is still more wonderful, heaven itself seemed to 
turn against the Innocent One in the last dark hours of his 
life. It pleased the Father to bruise, and not to spare his 
beloved Son. Not only was a whole deluge of hatred from 
men and devils poured around his cross ; but his Father, to 
whom he ever looked for comfort, withdrew from him. The 
face that had ever beamed upon him with love was now dark 
with wrath. Now, the people of God have generally died in 
triumph. Martyrs have sung in the flames, and shouted forth 
their cry of victory amid the worst pains that their enemies 
could inflict. But when the Lord of martyrs was dying, it 
was amid the deepest gloom ; the darkened heavens and the 
shuddering earth being but a faint emblem of the state of his 
mind as he cried, " My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
saken me ?" 

How can we explain this ? Why did the Father forsake the 
Son whom he calls his " well-beloved," and with whom he said 
he was "well pleased ?" The reason was, that as the Lamb of 
God he was bearing our sins. He was our substitute — he was 
bearing our penalty. There are only two classes of beings in 
the whole universe — the holy and the unholy. Now, when our 
transgressions were laid upon Jesus, he was numbered among" 
the unholy. By imputation, he was at that moment the great- 
est sinner in the world ; and as there must ever be a great gulf 
between the unholy and God, so when he stood in our stead 
he was forsaken of the Father, and the terrible curse due to 
our sin came upon him. He was treated as we deserved, in 
order that we might be treated as he deserved. He came to 
earth and took our sins, that we might take his righteousness 
and go to heaven. He was condemned for our sins, in which 



382 THE world's hope. 

he had no share, that we might be justified by his righteousness, 
in which we had no share. Ah ! yes, whether we " stand up 
for Jesus " or not, he stood up for us, and those billows of wrath 
that shall overwhelm the souls of them that reject the Gospel 
beat upon him, while a rayless gloom surrounded him, like the 
blackness of darkness itself. 

It was said of our Lord that *' he is brought as a lamb to 
the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so 
he openeth not his mouth. " Accordingly when he stood be- 
fore his wicked and unreasonable accusers, he answered them 
not a word. Now, why was he silent ? He was never silent 
when he had a poor, inquiring sinner to instruct; he was never 
silent when he had a prayer to offer for the guilty, even amid 
the darkness of the night and the solitude of the mountains ; 
he was never silent when he had hypocrites to rebuke, and the 
honor and sanctity of his Father's house to defend? but when 
he stood at Pilate's bar, and they condemned him to death, he 
had not a word to say. Why was this ? It was not because 
he was guilty, for, as we have shown, he was perfection itself. 
It was not because he could not speak with power, for when 
his enemies came to apprehend him a few words from his lips 
smote them to the earth as if smitten by a bolt from Heaven 
The true reason was that " the Lord had laid on him the ini- 
quity of us all, " and as the wages of sin is death, he had not a 
word to say why he should not die. He stood as a substitute, 
and instead of making excuses for sin, he bared his bosom and 
welcomed the stroke of Divine justice. He would not shift 
from himself the tremendous load of a world's guilt, but stood 
forth as our willing substitute. 

On this point a clear writer says, " Let the glorious object 
of your contemplation, my fellow-sinner, be the st'/en/ Savior — 
silent when a reason was demanded why he should not suffer — 
silent when giving up his soul for you — silent when heaven and 
earth were about to express their horror at his awful suffering — 
silently, but willingly and readily pouring out his blood upon 
the altar of justice for your sin. What more is needed to make 
you free to the love of God ? What more is needed to make 



THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 



383 



you free to look Jehovah humbly but confidingly in the face, 
and though vile and polluted, to cry, Abba, Father ? " 

When we undertake any enterprise we often do so in ignor- 
ance of the difficulties which we must encounter in its prosecu- 
tion, and of the suffering which must be endured before we 
can bring it to a successful issue. We often hear men say, 
" If I had only known how much this undertaking would have 
cost me, I would never have entered upon it. " But Jesus, from 
his lofty seat in the heavens, saw the whole of the dark and 
winding path of sorrow and suffering which he must tread in 
order to seek and save the lost. Not a pang that rent his holy 
heart, not an insult that was heaped upon his head, not a 
privation that he was called to endure, but were all known to 
him before he stepped from his throne to become a man of 
sorrows. From the manger to the grave, with all the fearful 
filling up of untold anguish, all was known to him ; and yet 
he said, " Lo ! I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God !" 

There are some most important Gospel truths which we may 
learn from this ancient type of Jesus. 

The only ground of safety for the Israelites, on that dread- 
ful night, was the blood upon their door-posts. God's word was, 
"When I seethe blood I will pass over you." It would have 
been in vain for them to have adopted any other plan of safety. 
They might have got the strongest iron bolts and bars for 
their doors; they might have surrounded their houses with 
numerous, guards of armed men ; they might have placed 
around the bed of the first-born the most skillful physicians ; 
but all would have failed to ward off the bolt of death. 

In like manner nothing can avail for the salvation of the 
sinner but the blood of Christ. We are told that Bengel, the 
great German scholar, when upon his death-bed, requested a 
dear friend to read to him the Sacred Scriptures. When the 
reader came to the passage, '*The blood of Jesus Christ, 
God's Son, cleanseth from all sin," the dying man stopped 
him, saying, "Add no more, it is enough, / shall die on these 
words'' His vigorous and cultivated intellect had laid in vast 
stores of knowledge; he had gone the rounds of the sciences, 



384 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

and pressed his way through the thick fog-banks of metaphys- 
ical and theological speculations, till he found the only safe 
resting place — faith in a Savior's death. 

In the bloody struggle which took place before Sebastopol, 
a brave and pious artilleryman, Corporal Ure, was mortally 
wounded in the trenches. When his comrades went to seek 
for him they found him dead, with his Bible open at the 53d 
chapter of Isaiah, and his finger resting on the 5th verse : " He 
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our 
iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and 
with his stripes we are healed." Upon this glorious truth he 
pillowed his sinking head ; from it his eyes, growing dim in 
death, discerned the light of immortality; and above the roar 
of battle his disembodied spirit ascended to be forever with 
the Lord. 

I have somewhere read of a good man who in a dream of 
the night supposed himself to be at the gate of heaven. He saw a 
spirit, just released from the body, approaching for admittance. 
The angel who guarded the gate asked, "What title have you 
brought to enter this glorious place .^" The spirit replied, "I 
am a rich man, I possess the title-deeds of many valuable 
estates and had great influence in the town where I dwelt.' 
The reply was, ''Those things belong to time, this is. eter- 
nity;" and he was turned away in all of the horrors of de- 
spair. Another came, asking admission on the grounds that he 
had ever been honest and upright in his conduct, that in the 
place where he lived he was much esteemed, and that none 
could breathe a word against the integrity of his character 
The angel thrust him back with the remark, " By the deeds of 
the law shall no flesh living be justified." A third came, tell- 
ing of his church-membership, his zeal for his party, the 
length and earnestness of his prayers, the warmth of his emo- 
tions and the depth and fervor of his feelings ; but after 
listening to his Chris/less experience, the angel refused him 
admission with the remark, " There is no name given undei 
heaven or among men whereby we must be saved but the name 
of Jesus." At length a spirit was seen winging its way 



THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 385 

through the air, all the while crying, " The blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin." To it the gate of heaven flew 
wide open, and the angel said, "An abundant entrance is 
ministered to you into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ." 

There are untold thousands in this highly favored land 
who are making fearful mistakes here. You cannot long con- 
verse with them till you see that, however sound may be the 
creed to which they give their assent, in their hearts they are 
resting on other dependencies than the blood of Christ. A 
minister was lately urging upon an inquirer the vital import- 
ance of simple faith in Jesus, when he was answered thus ; " I 
am aware that I can only be saved through Christ, but I have 
a great deal to do yet before I am fit to come to him." This 
is by no means a solitary case, and it shows that people may 
utter the words, " I can only be saved for the sake of Jesus," 
while they are cherishing hopes that lead down to hell. They 
imagine that they have a greac deal to do themselves, a 
mighty fabric of religion to build up, to which it may be need- 
ful that Jesus should come in and give the finishing stroke. 
This is as insulting to God's grace as it would have been for 
the Israelites first to have barred and barricaded their doors, 
or removed the first-born to some other place for greater secu- 
rity, and then to have put a little of the blood upon their door- 
posts. Christ must be a complete Savior, or he will not save 
at all. 

The blood on the lintels was of itself alone sufficient to 
secure peace. God did not add anything to it as necessary 
for security from the impending judgment ; and for the 
Israelites to have added anything would have been to doubt 
his word and impugn his wisdom. God did not say, " When I 
see the blood and the unleavened bread or bitter herbs, I will 
pass over." He did not say, "When I see the blood and your 
penitence, and your prayers and good feelings, I will pass 
over." People get to mixing up so many things with the work 
of Christ, that they lose sight of the true ground of peace. 
When the Israelite firmly believed God's word, and applied 



386 THE world's hope. 

the blood, it gave him a solid peace, a settled conviction that 
all was safe. He would not go on hoping and fearing, doubt- 
ing and trusting, but believing what God had said, he knew 
that he was safe. God had said that not one home would be 
injured — not one stroke from the avenging arm would fall upon 
any one who placed himself under the protection of the blood. 
So is it with the sinner now. Jesus has shed his blood, and by 
so doing has made a perfect atonement for sin. God has 
declared that with this he is fully satisfied, that the claims of 
justice are fully met, that he has nothing more against the sin- 
ner who trusts in his Son. It is not a matter of doubt or 
uncertainty at all, but one of positive assurance. The believer 
in Jesus is not a man who is merely hoping to be saved, or 
praying to be saved, or thinking that he stands a good chance 
of being saved ; he is saved. " He that believeth on the Son 
of God hath eternal life." It is a present salvation. 

The safety of the Israelite who had the blood of the lamb 
upon his lintels did not depend upon his previous good char- 
acter, nor upon his emotions and feelings, but upon the blood. 
He did not need to look into himself to find a ground of com- 
fort. No ; his true ground of comfort was out of himself 
altogether. On this point an excellent writer says : " Now, we 
are constantly prone to look at something in ourselves, as 
necessary to form the ground of hope. We are apt to regard 
the work of the Spirit in us, rather than the work of Christ for 
us, as the foundation of our peace. This is a mistake. We 
know* that the operations of the Spirit of God have their 
proper place in Christianity ; but His work is never set forth as 
that on which our peace depends. The Holy Ghost did not 
make peace, but Christ did. The Holy Ghost is not said to be 
our peace, but Christ is. God did not send ' preaching peace ' 
by the holy Ghost, but by Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost 
reveals Christ ; He makes us to know, enjoy and feed upon 
Christ. Without Him we can neither see, hear, know, feel, 
experience, enjoy, nor exhibit aught of Christ. But the Spirit 
never tenches the soul to rest on his work for peace in the 
presence of Divine holiness. His office is to speak of Jesus 



THE GREAT DELIVERANCE. 



387 



He can only present Christ's work as the solid basis on which 
the soul must rest forever." 

It is evident that according to the Israelite's faith in the 
word of God concerning the blood, would be his peace. If, 
as he heard the rush of the angel's wing sweeping past, and 
the wail of the bereaved borne to his ears, he began to tremble 
and to doubt, it could only be because his faith in God's word 
concerning the blood was failing. As long as his faith in that 
was firm, his confidence would be as unshaken as a rock. So 
with the believer in the precious blood of Christ. Has he 
doubts and fears ? Has he heart-sinkings in the prospect of 
going into eternity.-* Has he great fluctuations of feeling — 
now joyful, and then desponding ? It is because he does not 
with unshaken faith repose in the efficacy of Christ's precious 
blood. 

When our blessed Lord went away from the house of 
Zaccheus, he left a precious blessing behind him. It was not 
gold nor silver, nor worldly honors; it was salvation. "This 
day hath salvation come to thy house." Christian parents, the 
destroying Angel of Death is abroad in the land — is entering 
many a lovely home, and snatching away many a cherished 
object of parental affection. Are you making an effort to 
place your loved ones under the protection of the Savior's 
blood .-* As soon as they come to years of responsibility, do 
you regard their salvation as paramount to everything else ? 
Ah ! thus only can you recover them as they scatter from you, 
and meet at last a whole family in heaven. 

Sinner, you are rejecting the Savior's blood, and in your 
present state your destruction is sure. Death may arrest you at 
any moment, and to you hell follows in his steps. To the guilt of 
breaking God's holy law, you are every day adding the fearful 
guilt of rejecting the tender love of Jesus, and trampling 
under your feet his most precious blood. All around you is 
changing. The hand of death and decay will touch everything 
earthly that you cling to, and it will perish from your sight. 
Already the loved companions of your early days are nearly 
all gone. The green grass waves mournfully over the graves 



^88 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

of many that you loved. If you place your trust in anything 
earthly, you lean upon a broken reed. Trust in friends, and 
they may die and leave you, or prove false to you. Trust in 
riches, and they may make to themselves wings and fly away. 
Trust to reputation, and a false tongue may blast it in a few 
moments. But trust in Jesus, and you have a friend, " the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 

You may feel alone in the world — a stranger among strang- 
ers ; you may feel poor and friendless ; but the blessed Savior 
loves you, and is a friend to you — your best friend. Oh! do 
not flee from him ! Do not cast from you such a wealth of 
love! The hand that was nailed to the cross for you is 
stretched out to save you. It is strong to save, but it is also 
strong to smite. Bleeding love despised will bring down eter- 
nal ruin on your head. 

Oh ! what will you do without the Savior's presence when 
you come to die .'* I see your pale, frightened countenance, as 
you lie upon a bed of death. I see your anxious look, as the 
world fast recedes from your view. Friends gaze at you 
through their tears, but cannot die for you. Your physician 
can do no more for you. Your heart struggles wildly under 
the grasp of death. Eternity is drawing very near to your 
view. In another moment, with all your sins upon your soul, 
you will be before God. Oh ! what will you do without a 
Savior to plead for you — without his precious blood to wash 
away your guilt, and without his strong arm to lean upon aa 
you go through the dark valley. 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 389 



CHAPTER II. 

THE TRUE REFUGE. 

"And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger. 
Numbers. 35 12. 

To those who believe, Christ is truly precious. His name, 
which thrills all heaven with rapture, never falls upon their 
ears without awakening the most pleasing emotions. As the 
miser never tires of gazing upon ];iis long-hoarded and accum- 
ulating treasures ; as the politician kindles into a glow of 
pleasure as he speaks of his favorite plans of legislation ; as 
the mother's whole soul beams in her countenance and 
sparkles in her eyes as she hears of the excellencies of her 
darling child ; and as the naturalist is filled with delight as he 
gazes upon nature's scenes of surpassing loveliness; so the 
Christian delights to speak of Christ, to think of him, and to 
honor him, as his habitual employment. 

The Bible is full of figures and emblems, by which the 
Savior is represented. All nature has been ransacked to pre- 
sent him to us in his matchless worth. So much is this the 
case that there is scarcely a prominent object in nature with 
which his name is not linked. His holy offices are associated 
with almost every object around us, from the minutely small to 
the magnificently great. 

As the rising sun dispels the darkness of night, we are 
reminded of the "Sun of Righteousness." As we greet the 
friends that love us, we are reminded of " the Friend that 
sticketh closer than a brother." As we eat our daily bread, we 
are reminded of " the Bread of Life that cometh down from 
heaven." As we quench our thirst with nature's cooling bev- 
erage, we are invited to "the living water," of which if a man 



39° THE WORLD S HOPE. 

drink he shall never thirst again. If we journey, we hear him 
say. " I am the way;" and when, with gladness returning, we 
enter our homes, we hear him say, " I am the door." If sick, 
he is a physician ; if in solitude, he is always near ; if poor, 
he is the true riches, the pearl of great price ; and when we 
come to death and the grave, and all the sad memorials of 
mortality, we hear him say. " I am the resurrection and the 
life." 

I. The cities of refuge were instituted among the Jews by 
divine direction. (See Num. 35 : 9-15.) When a man had 
undesignedly caused the death of a fellow-creature, he might 
flee to those cities, where he would be safe from the avenger 
of blood until the matter could be properly investigated. If 
it was found that he had committed deliberate murder, he was 
given up to the avenger of bipod to be put to death ; but if he 
was found innocent of any such intentional wrong, he 
remained secure in the city of refuge till the death of the high 
priest ; but should he for a moment go out of the city or its 
suburbs, he placed himself beyond the protection of legal 
shelter, and might fall that moment under the avenging stroke 
of the destroyer. 

Now, there can be no doubt that this institution among the 
Jews pointed directly to Christ. To understand Christ we 
have often to go back for counsel to Moses, and many of the 
most beautiful allusions of the New Testament are best read 
in the light reflected from the Old Testament. The law was a 
shadow of good things to come ; and since the first moment 
that Christ was preached to fallen man in paradise till now, 
there has been but one true religion, and Christ has been its 
center. Adam, Abel and Enoch died in faith, pillowing their 
heads upon the truth as it is in Jesus, though but dimly dis- 
cerned. Abraham, Moses, David, Hezekiah, were each saved 
by faith in the blood of Jesus ; and as they saw the dying ago- 
nies of the sacrificial victim that was laid on the altar, they 
looked across the broad gulf of ages to " the Lamb of God " 
dying for the sins of the world. 

It is doubtless in reference to the cities of refuge that the 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 39I 

prophet Zechariah said, " Tarn you to the stronghold, ye pris- 
oners of hope," and that Paul says, "That they might have 
strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the 
hope set before them." Having fled to Jesus for refuge, they 
are represented as " being found in him." 

See yonder man fleeing in hot haste across the open plain ! 
He has been accessory to the death of a fellow-man, and the 
avenger of blood, with relentless hate, is upon his track. On 
he bounds with increasing speed, making direct for the nearest 
city of refuge, while his pursuer seems to gain upon him every 
moment. He looks over his shoulder, his countenance pale 
with terror, and sees his advancing foe, with the weapon of 
death gleaming in his hand. On yonder eminence stands the 
refuge, with its gates invitingly open. He is almost there ; — a 
few moments more and he will be safe ! 

But suppose that when he gets within a few yards of the 
gate, he were to stop — to sit down and take his ease, while de- 
struction came upon him like an armed man. Suppose that he 
concluded that he was now so near to the place of safety that 
there could be no reason for further haste — forgetting that not 
to those who were near the refuge, but to those who yf^r^m 
it^ was the divine protection promised. We would wonder at 
the mad infatuation of such a man — permitting himself to 
perish under the very shadow of the place of safety. 

My dear reader, if you are still out of Christ the case is 
your own. God gave you a holy, a perfect, a reasonable law — 
a law which simply asks the affections of your heart and the 
obedience of your life to him, to whom you owe all that makes 
life desirable. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart." This you have not done; you have forgotten 
God ; you have taken your own way, in opposition to his, and 
you have returned enmity for love. 

But this is not all, nor the worst. This God against whom 
you have rebelled, has sent his beloved Son to die for your 
sins. He bore the curse due to your offences ; and at an ex- 
pense of suffering of soul of which we can form no concep- 
tion, he has come and offered you pardon, on terms easy ta 



392 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



rejected and despised the gracious offer! Every day of your 
life, since you first heard the Gospel invitation, you have been 
sending word to heaven that you would not have the world's 
Savior to rule over you. It stands so recorded in the book of 
God's remembrance now, while you are reading these lines ; 
and there is not a devil in hell chargeable with the guilt with 
which you have every day been staining your soul — that of 
rejecting an offered Savior! 

This guilt — enough, if unpardoned, to damn a world — is 
upon your soul now. The law pursues you with its tremen- 
dous curse. In Christ, the true refuge, you would be perfectly 
safe, for he has answered all the law's demands. But I see you 
stop short of Christ, to depend upon your own goodness, 
your repentance, your tears, your convictions, or your works. 
Parents, ministers, and Christian friends may feel that you are 
not far from the kingdom, and this may be true ; but it is not 
those who are near to the Lord lesus, but those who are /;/ 
him that are safe. 

II. By divine direction, the roads leading to the cities of 
refuge were to be kept in good repair^ and free from every /;?- 
cumbrance. So every obstacle that stood between the return- 
ing sinner and God, the bleeding hands of Jesus have torn 
away. Amid all the truths that go to constitute universal 
truth, there is none so plain, so easily understood, as the plan 
of salvation. God's direction was, "Write the vision, and 
make it plain-" and accordingly it is made so plain that " he 
who runs may read." Yet so perverse is the human heart, 
that this very plainness is made a reason for rejecting it, and 
thousands of souls are stumbling to hell over the simplicity of 
the truth. When we tell sinners that there is nothing to do on 
their part but to believe in Jesus, they say, " That is too easy 
a way of being saved!" But to whom was it easy.-* Not to 
the Father, for he had to part with his well-beloved Son. Not 
to the Savior, for he had to drink the bitter cup of suffering to 
its dregs. It is m.ade an easy way to the sinner; but not to 
his sins, for it comes to destroy them. It is not easy to his 
carnal affections and \^sts, for it crucifies them. It is not easy 



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THE TRUE REFUGE. 393 

to his pride, for it lays that in the dust. But to the repentant 
sinner, burdened with his guilt, and fleeing from the wrath to 
come, it is the glory of the Gospel that it is the plainest of all 
truths. 

We are told that on one occasion unwonted joy filled the 
holy soul of the Savior. Now, he was emphatically the man of 
sorrows. He "bore our sorrows;" and because the fearful 
baptism of blood was ever before him, and the burden of 
perishing souls ever upon him, the marks of a premature old 
age rested upon his faded brow ; so that before he had 
reached thirty years of age, the Jews thought him near fifty. 
But on the occasion referred to Jesus " rejoiced in spirit." 
What was the reason that this man of sorrows for once in his 
life rejoiced .'* " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." The Lord 
rejoiced that the plan of salvation was such in its very nature 
that the wise in their own estimation — those who were puffed 
up with self-conceit, and with the teachings of a false philoso- 
phy — cannot see any beauty in the Gospel ; while to those who 
have a teachable, honest, child-like desire to know the truth, 
it is at once revealed as the power of God to their salvation. 

It is said that Wilberforce once took the great statesman, 
Pitt, to hear the celebrated Mr. Scott preach. The preacher's 
theme was the way by which a sinner can be saved ; and it 
was presented with great plainness, fervor and earnestness. At 
the close of the service Pitt was asked what he thought of the 
sermon, when he replied, " I did not know what he was aim- 
ing at !" So true is it that the things of the Spirit are foolish- 
ness to the unrenewed man, and that " if our Gospel be hid, 
it is hid to them who are lost, through the pride, and worldli- 
ness, and unbelief of their hearts." 

Suppose a man fleeing to the city of refuge were all at once 
to stop, refusing to go any further, because the way was too 
plain and easy ; and that in order to his safety, it is necessary 
that he should have some obstacle to remove with his own 
hands. Should the avenger of blood come up and destroy 



394 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

him while uttering such nonsense, you would say he perished 
a victim to his own folly. And when we urge the sinner to 
believe in Jesus as all that is needed to his salvation, and he 
refuses eternal life upon such terms, affirming that it is too 
easy, and that there must be something that he has first to do 
to fit him for coming to Christ ; if eternal death overtakes 
him in the midst of his self-righteousness, he perishes — not 
because of some irresistible decree — not because there was no 
Savior for him — not that heaven- made barriers were in his 
way, for there were none ; but simply because he would not 
believe the testimony of God concerning his Son. 

Perhaps we could nowhere find a better picture of the relig- 
ion of human nature, the religion of form and ceremony, than 
is to be found in the words of Dr. Wiseman. He says : 
*' Let us be laid in our shroud, with that cross at which evil 
spirits tremble grasped in our hands ; let the poor brethren of 
some pious guild bear us, with psalms ot penancy mournfully 
sung as for a brother, to our common place of rest — the holy 
field, consecrated by most solemn rites ; let the standard of 
Christ be born before us, as the emblem of victory over the 
grave ; let the church recite over us her touching prayers for 
our deliverance and rest, and the very earth which, sprinkled 
with blessed water, falls heavy upon our coffin, shall seem rich 
with her benedictions, embalming our remains beyond Egypt's 
skill for a glorious resurrection." 

Such is the language of the religion of form, of sacramen- 
talism, and of churchianity. It passes by the true spiritual doc- 
trines of the Cross, to trust in the sign of the Cross, or in the 
wooden cross. It passes by the precious blood of Christ, to 
rest on the efficacy of holy water ; and it neglects the inter- 
cessions of the Great Advocate, to rest on the prayers of the 
priest and of departed spirits. It is the vain, proud out-gush- 
ings of fallen human nature striving to be its own savior. 

The cities of refuge were so placed that they could be 
reached in a short time from any part of the land. Christ is 
represented as being nigh at hand, and not afar off. " The 
word is nigh thee, even in thy heart," is true of the greatest 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 



395 



sinner, the moment he believes in Christ's work. It is not 
necessary to raise wild and clamorous cries, as if He were at 
a great distance, and had to be brought nigh. It is not need- 
ful to wait till special meetings for the revival of religion are 
held in your neighborhood. You need not wander about from 
meeting to meeting, and from minister to minister, seeking 
Christ. He is nigh thee. He says, " Behold 1 stand at the 
door and knock." He has come the length of the door, and 
there is nothing between you and Christ but that door, which 
you yourself have shut and barred. He invites you to open 
the door of your heart. He will not break it open. Recog- 
nizing your free agency, he will not force you, but sends his 
Word and his Spirit, to press you with the mightiest motives. 
The power that he applies to a planet and to a mind are widely 
different. He treats mind as mind, and not as a machine; and 
hence, by the persuasive voice of love, he asks the sinner to 
open his heart. The bar is on the sinner's side of the door, 
and he must open before the Lord will enter. Oh ! now, before 
he turns away from you forever, withdraw the bar of unbe- 
lief, and welcome Chtist to your heart as your all and in all. 

HI. The gates of the cities of refuge stood open night and 
day. Christ is as little confined to times as he is to places. 
•' He slumbereth not nor sleepeth," and whether the applica- 
tion is made to him at ?ioon by Jacob's Well, or at midnight in 
the tottering prison at Ephesus, he "in no wise casts out." 
Were there but one day in the year, or even one hour in the 
day, when he would receive sinners, how many must perish 
before that favorable time arrived ! But, blessed be God ! 
from the moment the sinner lands on the shores of time, till 
that moment when eternal realities open upon his view, there 
is not a single second of time when, if he trusts in Jesus, his 
confidence will be rejected. 

And yet the sinner may arrive at a period in the future when 
it will be too late. If he persists in his impenitence, a time 
will come when Christ's' door of mercy, though open to others, 
will be shut against him ; and when, in despairing accents, he 
begins to cry "Lord, Lord open to me!" the calm voice 



596 THE world's hope. 

of justice and truth from within will answer, " I never knew 
you !" What sorrow and mortification have we seen depicted 
on the face of some traveler, when, panting and in hot haste, 
he has arrived at the railroad depot, or the steamboat wharf, 
just one moment too late ! But no imagination can conceive 
— no eloquence nor poetry describe the anguish of spirit, the 
despair and horror of soul of that man who awakes to the value 
of Christ's salvation one moment too late ! " When once the 
Master of the house has shut the door, " an eternity of prayer 
and an ocean of tears would not open it. 

IV. At all the cross-roads leading to the cities of refuge 
there were finger-posts erected, upon which were inscribed, in 
large and legible characters, the words "Refuge! Refuge I" 
This is the great business of the gospel ministry. The minis- 
try was not appointed for the purpose of delivering mere intel- 
lectual lectures, or reading moral essays ; it was not instituted 
for the promotion of party politics, nor to be a channel through 
which to convey the news of the week, by what is called "preach- 
ing on the times." The Sabbath is not set apart merely for 
the cultivation of the intellect, nor for the purpose of enjoying 
an intellectual treat. There are six days when that work can 
be attended to, but God's holy day is specially set apart for 
the cultivation of the heart. The heart can only be made bet- 
ter through faith in Jesus, and hence the great work of the gos- 
pel ministry is to cry, " Behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world ! " 

It is a good rule that there should be enough of the gospel 
in every sermon to save the soul of any hearer present, who 
may be listening to it for the first or for the last time. And 
yet, alas ! how little of Christ is preached in many pulpits that 
are called orthodox ! It is too often taken for granted that 
the people know all about the gospel, and that themes of greater 
novelty must be handled in order to interest them. That the 
people were very much interested, or that it was an interesting 
sermon, seems by many to be regarded as the height of success. 
Now there is no one topic upon which the great masses of the 
people are more is^norant and need more to be instructed, than 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 397 

the plan of salvation ; and this is true not of one class only, but 
of all. Persons who move in the most intelligent circles — grad- 
uates of colleges, eloquent orators, able statesmen, men of 
acute and discriminating minds — are found as ignorant of the 
way in which a sinner can be justified before God, as the most 
benighted heathen, without having the same excuse for their 
darkness. 

When ministers fmd such persons in their congregations, they 
are apt to think that they must, in order to interest them, preach 
sermons of a high intellectual cast, pervaded by classical allu- 
sions and historical illustrations. This is a fatal mistake. All 
need to learn more of Christ crucified ; and if a clear, and scrip- 
tural, and earnest presentation of the truth as it is in Jesus does 
not interest the mind, it never can be interested, for spiritual 
goody by any other means. 

In all our congregations there are minds anxious to know 
what they must do to be saved. They watch the pulpit eagerly 
every Sabbath, to hear something that may explain to them how 
they are to become Christians. It is not splendid declamation, 
nor magnificent descriptions, nor metaphysical subtleties that 
they want to hear, but how a sinner can be justified before God. 
For this they watch for weeks and months, and often, alas! 
watch in vain. Oh ! let us never, never forget that the great 
business of a Christian pulpit and of a Christian ministry is to 
point the sinner to the True Refuge. 

How dreadful would be the guilt of the man who should 
erect a false finger-post, pointing the man-slayer in a wrong di- 
rection ! And who can estimate the guilt of that man who, 
under the name of a Christian minister, tells the sinner that 
there is no danger — that there is no wrath to flee from, and con- 
sequently no need of a refuge ! And equally great is his guilt 
who points the sinner for hope to sacraments and outward forms 
of religion, instead of pointing him to Christ. To lead men to 
trust in their feelings, in their spiritual emotions and experien- 
ces, in their alternations of depressing fears and rapturous joys, 
is equally guilty and dangerous. A religious experience that 
has no Christ in it is a worthless thing. When such an C/xperi- 



398 THE world's hope. 

ence is related it amounts to this : " So and so I felt, and M^r<?- 
/<?r«? I hope." How different from the gospel experience — "I 
know in whom I have believed ^ 

A man once went out upon an island near the sea shore, 
which, though bare and quite accessible when the tide was out, 
was always covered with water when the tide was in. While 
reclining upon a rock, gazing out listlessly upon the ocean, he 
fell asleep. When he awoke the waters surrounded him on 
every side, and were every moment getting higher. All chance 
of escape seemed cut off. He could not swim, he had no boat, 
and no human ear was near to hear his despairing cry. The 
waters rose higher and higher. Death stared him in the face, 
and eternity seemed opening for him its solemn portals, when 
away in the distance a life-boat was seen approaching. Did he 
push the boat from him and despise the offered help } Did he 
refuse to enter the boat till he had counted the planks of which 
she was built, found out her age and her owner, and the full 
history of the persons by whom she was manned? Did he in- 
sist upon finding out how he came to be in danger, by getting 
a full explanation of the nature and cause of the tides of the 
ocean, before he would enter the boat } No, no ! it is only in 
spiritual matters that men act so madly as that. He cast him- 
self at once into the boat, exclaiming " Thank God ! I am safe !" 

Sinner, you are in peril, and the life -boat of salvation has 
come for you ! It has rescued thousands from the perils of 
damnation ; — it can save you ! Oh ! now, without one mo- 
ment's delay, cast yourself into it, and you will be as safe as 
Omnipotence can make you. There are many ways by which 
you can obtain peace, but there is only one way by which you 
can obtain the peace that God will recognize as true and real 
— the peace that death cannot destroy nor judgment disturb, and 
that will be lasting as eternity. It is by faith in the merits of 
Jesus alone that such a peace can be obtained. 

Suppose that a merchant in this city has sent a vessel out 
upon our lake, laden with a valuable cargo. Nearly all his 
worldly possessions are in that vessel, and she is not insured. 
Shortly after she leaves the harbor a terrific storm comes on, 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 300 

and rages with unabated fury for some days. He can hear 
nothing from her. His mind is in a state of intense anxiety ; 
— he can neither eat nor sleep. At length he gets a telegraphic 
dispatch from his captain that the vessel is in a safe place of 
refuge. He believes that message, and at once his mind has 
peace. But had he not believed it, his mind would have been 
as much distressed as ever. The message might be true — the 
wives and families of the sailors on board might be rejoicing in 
that truth ; but his mind would be harassed with all the tortures 
of uncertainty, simply because of his unbelief. 

So, my unconverted reader, there is nothing between you and 
peace but your refusal to believe God's word concerning the 
work of his Son. That Son has died for you ; the Father has 
accepted his death as a ground upon which he can pardon you ; 
he has sent you the message of reconciliation from the heavens, 
with the most satisfactory evidence of its authenticity; and 
now, with that very message in your hand, you remain in your 
sins and under condemnation, because you will not believe it ! 
Others all around you — your dear friends, your neighbors, your 
former associates in sin — have believed the heaven-sent mes- 
sage, have fled to the refuge, and are safe ; and yet as precious 
blood has been shed for you as was shed for them. God is as 
willing to bestow pardon and peace upon you as upon them ; 
but your unbelief stands in the way of his mighty love filling 
your soul. 

When we speak of unbelief, we do not mean a blank state of 
mind, in which there is no belief. Such a state of mind is im- 
possible. The mind must rest upon something in the prospect 
of eternity, and when it does not receive truth it receives error. 
There is a sense, then, in which all men are believing, and 
according to the thing believed is the effect produced upon 
their hearts and lives. Adam believed Satan's lie, for example, 
and the belief of that lie about God's character converted or 
changed him from a good man into a bad man ; and it is the 
rejection of Satan's lie, and the belief of God's truth concerning 
his Son, that alone can change man back into the image of 
God. Paul had as much faith before his conversion as he had 



400 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

after it, but it was faith in falsehoods — it was faith in a hered- 
itary piety, in forms and ceremonies, in zeal for his religion, 
and in a righteousness which was of the law. Faith in these 
falsehoods gave him a peace ; for a false trust will give peace 
for a time, as well as the true trust. Hence he was very confi- 
dent that he was on the way to heaven, while he was going 
straight down to hell. " I verily thought that I was doing God 
service." He was very sincere in his belief, but sincerity will 
not make error truth. A man might be very sincere in eating 
arsenic, believing it to be sugar, but his sincerity would not 
save him from death. 

Faith, then, is just the entrance by which either truth or 
error finds a lodgment in the mind ; and it is the same act of 
the mind by which both are believed, but the thing believed 
makes a difference wide as heaven from hell. When Paul re- 
ceived " the truth as it is in Jesus," with a mighty, melting and 
transforming power, it made him a new creature, and planted 
firmly in his soul — so firmly that neither earth nor hell could 
shake it — the good hope which maketh not ashamed. 

My dear reader, let me entreat you to realize your danger, 
as long as you are out of the True Refuge, As soon as guilt is 
charged home upon the conscience of the sinner, it is natural 
for him to look about for an excuse for it. If you look into 
your own heart, you will detect yourself doing this, and be as- 
tonished to find how pleased you have been with yourself, at 
the very moment that God has been declaring you utterly vile ! 
One fact brings this out most clearly, and that is the measure 
of peace which you have in your unsaved state. If a man ac 
knowledges that he may be called into eternity at any moment 
and that he is as yet out of Christ ; and if, notwithstanding this, 
you see that he has a measure of peace — and no man could rest 
even for one night who has not — from what does his peace 
spring but from his own good opinion of himself ! Oh ! proud 
sinner! God charges guilt, damning guilt upon you, — and yet 
you justify yourself, and thus condemn God ! You may make 
what excuse you please for your unbelief and rejection of the 
Saviour; but, in the great name of my Master, I protest that I 



THE TRUE REFUGE. 401 

know of no reason but your pride. Let that be cast away, and 
this moment you would accept of Christ's righteousness. 

But if you will not hear, but brace up your guilty soul to 
contend with God, then know that he will soon bring you low. 
He will arise in his might, and be as a consuming fire to you. 
The day of vengeance cometh — the day of the fierceness of his 
wrath lingereth not. He will scatter the proud, for who can 
abide the day of his coming.'' Arrows of wrath will pierce 
where arrows of conviction could not, and the eternal displeas- 
ure of the Almighty will fall upon the soul made bare to re- 
ceive it. Where shall the sinner flee then, when God ariseth 
to deal with him ? Shall he flee to his companions in sin ? 
Alas ! they are in the same consternation as himself. Shall he 
flee to the caverns of the rocks ? The rocks have melted away 
like wax before the face of the Judge. Oh ! now flee to the 
Rock of Ages cleft for you, and then you will at last be received 
into a blessed home, where all that is pure becomes forever 
permanent. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE JUBILEE. 
"A Jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you." Lev. 25 : ii. 

None of all the Jewish festivals was so spirit-stirring as that 
of the Jubilee. It was an occasion of exceeding joy throughout 
the whole land, because it stood connected with the great day 
of atonement. If the welcome, long-looked-for notes of the 
trumpet, on the day of Jubilee, thrilled the whole nation with 
joy, it was because there had first been the shedding of sacrifi- 
cial blood. If the wandering exile was permitted once more to 
gaze in delight upon the green hills and lovely valleys of his 
native land ; if the slave was permitted to rejoice in emancipa- 
tion ; if the debtor felt himself free from all claims against him ; 
if happy families received back into their circle long lost ones ; 
if the poverty-stricken bankrupt gladly returned to his posses- 
sions again ; it was all because atoning blood had been shed. 
God can bestow no joy upon a sinner, no blessing upon a rebel, 
except through the shedding of blood. It has been true ever 
since man became a sinners that "without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission of sin." 

It was on the eve of the great day of atonement that the year 
of Jubilee was to begin ; and on the morning of that day, the 
high priest, having made an atonement for himself and his 
house, selected two goats and proceeded to cast lots upon them, 
as to which was to be slain as a sin-offering for the people, and 
which was to be let go as a scape-goat into the wilderness. The 
goat that had been selected as a sin-offering was then slain. 
The high priest, catching the flowing blood in a golden bowl, 
entered with it within the veil, into the holiest of all, where was 
the Shechinah, and sprinkled the blood of the victim on the 
mercy seat, in the awful presence of Jehovah. 

The high priest then came forth, and going up to the living 

4.02 



THE JUBILEE. 



403 



goat, in the presence of all the people, put both his hands upon 
its head, and with much solemnity confessed the sins of the 
children of Israel. The goat was then let go into the wilder- 
ness. The scene is thus graphically described by Dr. Guthrie : 
" The congregation opens, the vast crowd divides, forming a 
lane that stretches away right from the tabernacle into the 
boundless desert. While every lip is sealed and every eye in- 
tent upon the ceremony, a man steps forth — a ^fif man, and 
taking hold of the victim, he leads it on and away through the 
parted crowd. All eyes followed them. Amid the haze of the 
burning sands and distant horizon their forms grow less and 
less, and at length vanish from the sight. He and that goat are 
now alone. They travel on and farther on, till, removed beyond 
the reach of any human eye, far off in the distant wilderness, 
nor man nor house in sight, he casts loose the sin-laden creature. 
And when, after the lapse of hours, the people descry a speck 
in the extreme distance, which draws nearer and nearer, until, 
in a solitary man who approaches the camp, they recognize the 
fit man who had led away the sin-laden victim, the people see, 
and we in figure also see, how our Lord, when he was made an 
offering for sin, took the load of our guilt upon him — bearing it 
away, as it were, to a land that was not known." 

The great design of most of these Levitical institutions was 
to point to Christ. As Tyndal says, " They were a star-light of 
Christ." Through these types and figures, as the holy McCheyne 
says, " The Jews looked upon a veiled Saviour, whom they had 
never seen unveiled. We, under the New Testament, look up« 
on an unveiled Saviour ; and, going back on the Old, we can 
see far better than the Jews could the features and form of Jesus, 
the Beloved, under that veil." 

I. It was not until these atoning sacrifices had been gone 
through that the period of Jubilee, or glad tidings, was pro- 
claimed. And so it is only through the shedding of a Saviour's 
blood that God can proclaim " peace on earth and good will to 
man." This is a weary, sin-sick world. It is a vale of tears, 
that everywhere echoes the groans and sighs of suffering human- 
ity. Human hearts are wrung with anguish from the cradle to 



404 THE JUBILEE. 

the grave. But God is not to blame for this. He has been at 
infinite pains to make men happy — to bring to our race a Jubi- 
lee of gladness. The poet has sung, and multitudes have echoed 
the sentiment with approval — " Man was made to mourn." But 
it is not true; — it is a foul libel upon the benevolent Creator, 
who made man to be happy. Man by his sins makes his own 
mourning. He madly dashes from him the cup of blessing 
held out to him by the hand of infinite Love, and then reaches 
out to seize the poison-cup of sin, and when writhing in the 
pain produced by his own folly most wickedly casts the blame 
on God. 

God proclaims peace and joy to every sinner through the 
death of his Son. Before he believes in Jesus, no man has a 
right to be happy ; and after he thus believes, no man has a 
right to be miserable. The religion of superstition is always 
one of fear and gloom, but the religion of Christ is ever one of 
peace and joy. Outward troubles and trials the believer may 
have, but these cannot harm him while all is peace within ; 
for the vessel does not sink by the waves that dash against 
her, but by those that get into her. " With Christ in the vessel 
we smile at the storm;" and until Christ is in the soul, there 
is no power that can make man happy. His surroundings 
may be of the most pleasant kind ; his every animal want may 
be gratified ; he may be exalted upon the pinnacle of fame, 
and be a nation's idol; he may have all of the world's enjoy- 
ments that any one human heart can hold ; and yet, if out of 
Christ, in his hours of solitude there will be heard coming up 
from the depths of that heart the bitter wail of anguish. Sir 
Walter Scott is a proof of the inability of the world to satisfy 
the soul. He had splendid talents, a world-wide fame, and a 
princely income — his profits from his writings in one year 
amounting to $75,000. His King conferred upon him titles 
and honors ; his domestic relations were all that heart could 
wish; yet his closing days were very gloomy. "Death," he 
says, "has closed the dark avenue of love and friendship. I 
look on them as through the grated door of a burial-place filled 
with monuments of those who were once dear to me, and with 



THE JUBILEE. ^0$ 

no Other wish than that it may open for me. at no distant 
period." Again he says: "Some new object of complaint 
comes every moment. Sickness comes thicker and thicker ; 
friends are fewer and fewer. The recollection of youth, health 
and powers of activity, neither improved nor enjoyed, is a poor 
ground of comfort." Not long before he died, at his request 
his daughter wheeled him up to his writing-desk and put the 
pen into his hand, but his fingers could no longer wield it. The 
tears rolled down his cheeks. " Take me back to my own 
room," he said ; " there is no rest for Sir Walter but in the 
grave !" Campbell, the author of the " Pleasures of Hope," in 
his old age wrote : " I am alone in the world. My wife and the 
child of my hopes are dead ; my surviving child is consigned to 
a living tomb [a lunatic asylum] ; my last hopes are blighted. 
As for fame, it is a bubble that must soon burst. Earned for 
others, shared with others, it was sweet ; but at my age, to my 
own solitary experience, it is bitter." 

As a proof that no splendor of wealth, no glory of fame, no 
elegance of outward surroundings," can make the soul joyful 
without Christ, we have the case of the French infidel, Voltaire. 
He resided in a splendid mansion surrounded by all the luxury 
that heart could wish. Kings honored him, and princes and 
courtiers vied with each other for the pleasure of his society. 
His printed works were exceedingly popular; and he was so 
great an idol of the people that on one occasion the population 
of Paris took the horses from his carriage, and drew him in 
triumph around the city. Yet, in the midst of all this, listen 
to his own doleful words : " In man there is more wretchedness 
than in all other animals put together. He loves life, and yet 
he knows he must die. If he enjoys a transient good, he 
suffers various evils, and is at last devoured by worms. The 
bulk of mankind are nothing more than a crowd of wretches, 
equally criminal and unfortunate, and the globe contains 
rather carcases than men. I tremble at the review of this 
awful picture, and / wish I had 7iever been born.'' 

Now take these dark and despairing words, and contrast 
them with those uttered by a true Christian, the Rev. Mr. 



^o6 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Halyburton, of Scotland. He was dying in poverty and in pain, 
with none of the outward surroundings of comfort which Vol- 
taire possessed, and yet he says : " I shall shortly get a view 
of my God, and be able to praise him forever. Oh! the 
thoughts of an incarnate God are sweet and ravishing ! I won- 
der that I enjoy such composure under all my bodily pains, and 
in view of death itself ! What mercy that, having the use of 
reason, I can declare his goodness to my soul ! I bless his 
name that I have found him, and I die rejoicing in him. / bless 
God that ever I was born ! Oh ! that I was where He is ! I 
have a father and a mother in heaven, and ten brothers and 
sisters there, and I shall be the eleventh. Oh ! there is a 
telling in this Providence, and I shall be telling it forever ! 
Blessed be God that ever I was born I" 

Yes, blessed be God! the atonement has been made, and 
the gospel trumpet sounds forth the joyful sound ! And 
blessed are the people who know it in their own heart-experi- 
ence. It tells us of the Chief of Saviours for the chief of sin- 
ners. It is the voice of love sounding in a world of hatred 
— the voice of truth in a world of falsehood — a voice of forgive- 
ness to a world of condemned rebels. The sounds that came 
from Sinai were full of terror. Its fearful crashes, as they fell 
upon the ears of the people of Israel, made them quake with 
fear. When the shrill trumpet of war sends its blast through 
the land, it is not a joyful sound : it speaks of desolated homes, 
of weeping widows and orphans, of garments rolled in blood, 
and of the heavens glaring red with the reflection of burning 
cities. But the joyful sound that comes from Calvary tells of 
peace and good will from the throne of God. It hushes into a 
calm the stormy voice of conscience in the human soul, and 
speaks of pardon established upon eternal justice. 

II. The Jubilee proclaimed the exti?iction of debt. To the 
poor man, pining away under the crushing weight of a debt 
which he was unable to meet, this would be an unspeakable 
comfort. That debt had pressed upon him by night and by 
day for many years. It had been his first thought in the morn- 
ing — his last at night. He has thought, and planned, and toiled 



THE JUBILEE. 407 

to remove it, but all in vain ; and a feeling of dark, sullen des- 
pair is beginning to settle down upon his soul, when the notes 
of the trumpet break upon his ear and proclaim his release. 
" Every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbor, shall re- 
lease, he shall not exact it of his neighbor or of his brother, 
because it is called the Lord's release." Deut. 15: 2. With 
what delight would the " Lord's release" come to such a man ! 
Now our sins are often in the Scriptures described as debts, 
and we have nothing with which to pay the mighty sum. Nay 
the debt is constantly accumulating against the sinner, and his 
every effort to pay it but adds to the sum total. As man's every 
breath is sin, and his every act one of rebellion, while rejecting 
the Saviour, he constantly adds to the debt which stands against 
him as the short period of his probation passes ; and if his re- 
lease depended upon his own efforts, his damnation would be 
sure. 

But the gospel Jubilee proclaims the full remission of sin to 
all who believe. A way is opened up by which the whole debt 
can be discharged. " The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
cleanseth from all' sin." Though more in number than the 
hairs upon our heads or the grains of sand upon the sea shore, 
not one sin need be left to burden or stain the soul. Indeed, 
if the blood of Christ removed every guilty stain but one^ and 
left that to be removed by the sinner himself, he could never 
enter heaven. If all the sins of our lives were pardoned except 
those of one moment, that would bar against us the door of 
hope. An old writer says : " Were the holiest of men admitted 
into heaven, all but his little finger, and it depended upon him- 
self to get that in, he could never enter." But as the waters 
of the flood covered the tops of the highest hills, so the blood 
of Christ covers our highest sins. 

The pardon \s free and unco7iditional. It is not " If you pay 
part of the debt, I will hielp you with the rest." There is no 
worthiness of personal character to be pleaded. We have but 
one recommendation — that we are lost sinners, and such Jesus 
came to save. Like David in the cave of Adullam, he " re- 
ceives every one that feels in distress and is a debtor." Let 



4o8 THE world's hope. 

the following case illustrate the confidence of faith in him. 
A neighbor went into the room where a young lady was dying, 
a few hours before she expired. When asked how she felt this 
morning, she faintly replied, " I am going." " I trust," said the 
neighbor, "you have a good hope." "Oh no !" she replied, "I 
am not hoping — I am certain. My salvation was finished 
ON THE Cross. I am going to Jesus ; he is my hope." 

III. The Jubilee proclaimed the release of all prisoners. 
Suppose a captive, far from home and friends, immured in a 
gloomy prison, loaded with chains, pining out his days in soli- 
tude and grief, and cut off from the sympathy of human kind. 
Dark and cheerless is his lot. Sometimes in imagination he 
breaks away from his prison-house — is once more in his loved 
home, receiving the kisses of his children and the warm wel- 
come of his friends, and free as the mountain torrent that leaps 
from rock to rock. But he soon starts from his dream of delu- 
sion, and awakes to the reality of his condition. There are' his 
damp, slimy prison walls, there is his filthy pallet of straw; 
there is his chain eating into his flesh, and there are the iron 
bars that shut him out from all hope. He loudly bewails his 
sad fate, and his bosom heaves with a sea of troubles; when, 
hark ! — the sound of the Jubilee trumpet breaks upon his ears ; 
his prison door grates upon its hinges ; a messenger enters, and 
speaks that word which has music in it for every captive from 
the equator to the poles — Liberty ! He is a free man ! Oh ! 
with what rapture does he look upon the blue heavens and the 
green earth, and breathe God's free air ! That trumpet brought 
a joyful sound to him. 

But this is only a faint type of the Gospel Jubilee. Men are 
described as "sold under sin," as "led captive by the devil at 
his will," as " prisoners of hope," and as " condemned already." 
Condemned ! Oh ! what a wretched condition ! See that man 
on trial for his life. The witnesses have all given in their testi- 
mony, and his guilt is made to stand out as clear as day. The 
judge proceeds to pronounce the sentence of death. The crim- 
inal trembles in every joint ; his countenance changes — now 
flushed, now deadly pale ; till, at last overcome by his emotions, 



THE JUBILEE. 409 

he falls fainting upon the earth ! He is borne back to his cell — 
condemned already ! He is now dead in the eyes of the law. 
His execution may be deferred for a longer or shorter time, 
according to circumstances — but he is condemned ! 

Sinner, the case is your own. Your guilt stands out clear 
and distinct in the sight of God — proved in the court of heaven. 
The sentence has gone forth, with all its tremendous solemnity. 
You are condemned now. You may have supposed that your 
state was yet undecided — that you have occupied a kind 
of neutral ground, and that the day of death or of judgment 
must decide your condition. But this is a mistake. Unless 
you come to Christ your condition is as fixed, your destruction 
as certain, as that of the lost in the world of woe. For you 
there is still a Saviour — for them there is none ; but in your 
present state you are under the same curse that rests upon 
them. 

The Gospel Jubilee proclaims " deliverance to the captives, 
and the opening of the prison doors to them that are bound." 
It says : " There is, therefore, no condemnation to them which 
are in Christ Jesus." And why is there no condemnation to 
such ? Not because they have not been guilty — not because 
they were naturally better than others — not because their guilt 
was not clearly proved — not because the righteous Judge was 
not displeased with their guilt — not because they had a better 
character, or better feelings than others; but simply because 
they have trusted in Jesus, who bore the full penalty for them. 
There is no curse now upon them, for Jesus bore it: he took 
their place in the cell of the condemned that they might go free. 

History tells us of one put upon his trial for a high crime. 
The court was crowded, and the multitude was excited. The 
evidence was clearly against the man at the bar ; his friends 
had lost all hope, and the judge was about to pronounce sen- 
tence of death, when the criminal, who had been strangely calm 
throughout the whole, put his hand into his bosom and drew 
forth a pardon, signed by the King! So, in the great day of 
account, the bold challenge will be uttered — " Who can lay 
anything to the charge of God's elect .?" And the people of God 



4IO THE WORLDS HOPE. 

will hold up their heads calmly and joyfully in that day ; not be- 
cause they were not sinners, or did not deserve condemnation, 
but becau, 2 they fled to Jesus, who bore the punishment for 
them. "With his stripes we are healed." 

IV. The Jubilee proclaimed t/ie freedom of every slave. A 
Jew lost all power to retain a slave in bondage the moment the 
trumpet of Jubilee sent forth its joyful sound. In the course 
of the forty-nine years many had sunk into such poverty that 
they had sold themselves as bondmen. There is a strong in- 
stinctive dread of slavery in every human soul. We recoil 
from the very word with loathing. However prejudice, or 
party spirit, or self-interest may induce men to speak in favor 
of it when applied to others, these very men would start from 
it with horror if applied to themselves, their wives or their 
children. To be controlled in all hings by the will of a poor, 
sinful fellow-creature, like ourselves ; to be lashed by him, or 
sold like a beast of burden ; to have neither home, nor children, 
nor possessions; to be a thing of bartarand gain in the public 
market — the intelligence of the mind and the religion of the 
heart, as well as the strength of the muscles, being extolled in 
order to add to the price : this is all so degrading that long 
centuries of the wrong can never so debase human beings as to 
make the slave in love with it. If we were every morning 
driven to our field of unrequited toil by the crack of the whip ; 
if that mother might any moment have the babe torn from her 
bosom, and knocked down to the highest bidder; if your wife 
might be lashed till her quivering flesh hung like ribbons, and 
you durst not move a tongue nor lift a hand for her defence, 
then you would learn the value of liberty. 

How bright and happy, then to the slave was the dawning of 
the Jubilee morning! His fetters fell off, and he belonged to 
himself. He could look up once more into the blue heavens 
and say, " I am a man /" When, many years ago, the slaves in 
the British Colonies were set free, a missionary describes the 
scenes of joy which he witnessed. On the evening before the 
day of liberation a large multitude of the slaves had assembled, 
to watch the coming of the hour of liberty. The time was 



THE JUBILEE. 411 

spent in prayer and praise till twelve o'clock approached. 
Then a deep silence fell upon the assembly. Nearer and nearer 
came the joyful moment. Every one could hear the' throbbing 
of his own heart. The stillness was oppressive. At length 
twelve o'clock struck, and instantly there went up out of the 
the hearts of these free men one shout of gratitude, well pleas- 
ing, I doubt not, to the God of liberty. 

But there is a worse slavery than that of the body, under 
which every Christless sinner is bound. It is the slavery of sin 
and Satan. The mere slave among men may have a free soul 
in a fettered body. Man's cruelty may oppress and torture the 
outward temple, but the immortal part within may be Christ's 
freeman. From the lashed, bleeding, mangled body of many 
an " Uncle Tom " has gone forth many an exulting, happy 
spirit, that Christ has made free. Many a man with a black 
face has had a white heart. But, oh ! how sad when the soul 
is sold under sin, and given over to be the slave of the worst 
being in the whole universe ; to be led captive by the devil at 
his will, so that when he utters his wishes they become the soul's 
laws, is to sink to the lowest depths of degradation ! Yet this 
is the condition of every sinner who has not received the 
gospel. 

" He is the free man whom the truth makes free, 
And all are slaves besides." 

He may be boasting that he is not in bondage to man, while he 
is bound by a chain forged in hell. He may be boasting of his 
citizenship in a free country, while he is a willing subject of 
Satan's kingdom He may sing of liberty, and be willing to 
bleed and die for it, while he i^ the veriest slave of lust, and 
upholding, by his example and influence, Satan's vast, despotic 
throne of iniquity. We are told that the price of slaves has 
greatly fallen in the course of the onward march of passing 
events ; but the father of lies has in every age bought his slaves 
very cheaply. Of this God takes notice, saying, " Ye have sold 
Yourselves for a thing of naught." 

One sells himself for the poor privilege of handling a little 
gold. For it he drudges and toils by night and day ; for it he 



412 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

crushes out the noblest affections of his soul, and sinks to the 
most paltry acts ; and while his eyes are yet twinkling with 
greedy cunning, and he is forming brilliant plans for the future, 
God says, " Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be required of 
thee !" and his shrieking spirit goes into eternity with the words 
ringing in his ears, " What is a man profited if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul ?" Others sell their souls for a 
short life of pleasure. The gay party, the whirl and excite- 
ment of the ball-room, the attractions of the theatre, the con- 
stant round of dissipation, that turns night into day and day in- 
to night, absorb those faculties which God made for himself. 
Others sell their souls for , the intoxicating bowl, and reel 
through the world, bloated, ghastly, raving caricatures of hu- 
manity, till they drop into hell. Others barter away their souls 
for a few puffs of the breath of human praise, or in miserable 
subserviency to the fashions of the world. Thus they go on — 
worse slaves than ever toiled on a plantation, or crouched 
tremblingly under the frown of the oppressor. 

To ftU such Christ offers true, heaven-born, soul-liberty. 
Would to God that men had as high an appreciation of spirit- 
ual liberty as they have of that which is temporal. For liberty 
men have put forth deeds of noble daring that fill the soul 
with admiration, and have become the favorite theme of poetr>' 
and eloquence in every age ; but when the world's Redeemer 
proclaims deliverance to every captive, how few embrace his 
offer and rejoice in their spiritual liberty ! The proclamation 
of emancipation spread with the rapidity of lightning among 
the slaves, and create'd the wildest and most ecstatic joy; but 
slaves of sin can hear the sound of the gospel Jubilee with 
cold indifference. 

Those whom Christ makes free from spiritual bondage are 
always deeply anxious for those still in bonds. Often have I 
seen the liberated slave mingle with his rejoicings for his own 
deliverance tears of sorrow for loved ones still in fetters. Yea, 
we have known such risk their own liberty, much as they valued 
it, to go back and seek the rescue of a wife, a child or a broth- 
er. So is it with Christ's people. They were once slaves of 



THE JUBILEE. 413 

sin, and they know the sweets of soul-liberty. In exact pro- 
portion to the power of religion in their own souls is their 
strong solicitude for the souls of the impenitent. Witness Paul's 
agony of earnestness, his strong cries and tears, for his breth- 
ren according to the flesh. David said — " Rivers of water run 
down mine eyes because they keep not thy law." Jeremiah ex- 
claimed — " O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fount- 
ain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of 
the daughter of my people !" The Rev. John Welch used of- 
ten to rise in the night to pray for souls ; and on one occasion 
his wife remonstrating with him, afraid that he would injure his 
health, he said, " Oh, woman ! I have the souls of three thou- 
sand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of 
them !" And John Knox, when in an agony of prayer for his 
beloved land, cried, " O God, give me Scotland or I die !" 

In a town in England a new well was being dug, and was 
nearly completed. While one man was at the bottom, the earth 
caved in and buried him beneath an avalanche of sand and 
gravel. Instantly the wild alarm went forth, and all — mechan- 
ics, farmers, merchants, lawyers, ministers — hurried breathlessly 
to the rescue. Ropes, ladders, spades, shovels, all that could 
be wanted, were soon brought by eager and willing hands. 
" Save him ! oh, save him !" was the general cry. They worked 
with desperate energy, till the sweat glittered like beads upon 
their brows, and their arms trembled with the exertion. At 
length a tin tube was thrust down, through which they shouted 
to the man to answer, if still alive ; and his answer came back 
— " Alive, but make haste; it is fearful here !" And then with 
a shout of joy, they renewed their efforts ; and when at last he 
was reached and saved, there went up a joyful cheer that 
seemed to smite against the very heavens : " He is saved ! he is 
saved!" and the cry was taken up and echoed through every 
street and alley in the town. Was this too great earnestness, 
too much enthusiasm, about the life of one man ? No ; we will 
all acknowledge it was right. And if so, oh, what should be the 
fervor of our zeal, the energy of our efforts to save souls from 
hell ! 



414 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



Here it is that we see the peculiar solemnity and responsibil- 
ity of the minister's work. It is his special business to publish 
the glad tidings of the gospel Jubilee ; to stand between the 
Eternal God and the perishing, rushing on in hot haste to per- 
dition, and to beseech them to be reconciled to God. The de- 
voted John Sutcliff was right when he said, " Ministers will 
never do much till they begin to pull sinners out of the fire." 
If men were but the creatures of a day, whose knell was to be 
rung when the light of life forsook their eyes — if all were to be 
over with them when they reached the boundary line that sepa- 
rates time from eternity, the minister's work might be entered 
upon like any other intellectual effort put forth at the bar or in 
the senate house. But to stand up before a congregation of 
deathless souls, and to feel that to every one of them your mes- 
sage must prove the savor of life or of death ; to know that 
this gospel you publish permits of no neutrality — that it lays 
hold of all men as soon as they land on the shores of time, and. 
never relaxes its grasp till it leaves them angels before God or 
demons in hell ; to know that you must meet every individual 
hearer before Heaven's tribunal, and render an account, not 
only of what you have said, but of the motive and spirit in 
which you have said it, — all this involves an amount of respon- 
sibility under which an angel might tremble, and would drive 
the holiest of God's servants to despair, were it not for the as- 
surance that our sufficiency is of God." 

V. The Jubilee proclaimed the restoration of all forfeited 
property. Property which had become alienated from its 
originial owners, in consequence of debt or any unfortunate 
circumstance, when the year of gladness arrived was all re- 
stored. We can easily imagine with what joy the scattered 
and poverty-stricken family would return to the old home- 
stead, and again sit down under their own vine and fig tree. 
The cry, " Return every man to his possessions," would fall 
upon their parched hearts like the morning dew, and sound in 
their grateful ears like songs of victory. 

And the gospel Jubilee invites us back to our forfeited 
possessions — " to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and 



THE JUBILEE. 415 

that fadeth not away." By our departure from God we had 
lost all that is valuable in the universe : the favor of God, the 
enjoyment of his love, the sweet communion of the soul with 
him — all lost ! The bright hope of heaven, the calm peace 
of conscience, the confident repose of the soal upon divine 
promises — all lost through sin ! But when we get near to 
Christ by faith, paradise is regained ; we can look up to God 
and cry Abba, Father. His love fills our hearts till they are 
brimming over with gladness. The Holy Spirit, as a divine 
Comforter, takes possession of the soul, and an eternal house 
above is held in reserve for us and awaits our coming. In 
fthort, we find our all in Christ. As Dr. Cutler said when 
dying: "They ask me if I have new wiews of heaven or 
heavenly things.. Heaven is Christ, and Christ is heaven. I 
shall be with Christ: that is what I think of." To such a 
happy soul it is said — " All is yours, for ye are Christ's, and 
Christ is God's." 

Sinner, remember that the Jubilee was but of short du- 
ration. It was soon over. The trumpet was not always to 
souna. In like manner your day of probation is short. The 
period within which you can be saved is fast hastening to a 
close. A loving God will not always follow you with en- 
treaties, and expostulations, and promises. He will not be 
mocked. He will suddenly arrest you in the midst of your 
Christ-dishonoring career, and shut you up in hell ; and the 
ears that have so often listened to the joyful sound of the gos- 
pel will hear the sentence of condemnation, and the doleful 
sounds of the world of woe. 



CHAPTER IV. 



LAW AND GOSPEL 



For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus 
Christ." John i : 17. 

God, as the great Governor of the Universe, has put 
everything under law. Things insignificantly little and things 
vastly great are put under laws that they must obey. The 
grain of sand under our feet, as well as the towering Alps; the 
drop of dew that glitters in the morning sun, as well as the 
vast ocean ; the smallest flower that lifts up its modest head in 
the garden, as well as the tall cedar of Lebanon ; the tiniest 
insect that flutters in the passing breeze, as well as the tallest 
archangel ; the softest sound of the zephyr, as well as the 
thunder that rolls in majesty through the heavens — all are sub- 
ject to laws adapted to their several natures. Nothing that 
the divine hand has made has been forgotten by the divine 
mind. He has left nothing to the guidance of a blind chance. 

These laws are adapted to the nature of the creatures they 
are meant to control. Some of them are irresistible, and 
govern by force that must be obeyed. God speaks to the 
ocean, " Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther," and it obeys. 
He speaks to the earth and the planets, and they must obey 
the law of gravitation which he has appointed to them. He 
speaks to the irrational creatures, and they must obey the law 
of instinct which he has given them. But it is different with 
God's moral law, as applied to man. That appeals to man as 
an intelligent being, having a mind to understand its demands, 
a conscience to feel the power of its solemn sanctions, a heart 
to love it as perfectly just and good, and a will to render it a 
prompt obedience. This law does not compel obedience like 
the law of gravitation, else man would be a mere machine, like 
the vane on the house-top, that must turn as the wind blows it. 

4t6 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 



417 



Man has a free will that may defy God's law and take the 
terrible* consequence, or find in a holy submission to the 
Eternal Father the highest delight of which his nature is cap- 
able. Indeed, without the possession of this power there 
could be, in his case, neither sin nor virtue, neither praise nor 
blame. Well might the distinguished statesman, Webster, 
speak of man's personal responsibility to God as one of the 
greatest truths with which the mind can grapple. The power 
of free will may well fill us with awe. 

Our Lord has given us an outline of this law — so brief as 
to be easily remembered by all, and yet so comprehensive as 
to include the whole of God's will : "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy soul, and with all thy heart, and with all 
thy might, and thy neighbor as thyself" Such is the voice 
that comes to us from the heavens, from the great Arbiter of 
our destiny, the great Fountain of all good. We feel that it is 
a law good and reasonable in the highest degree ; that is, our 
consciences acknowledge its justness, while our passions may 
hate it, struggle against its holy claims; and yet, upon a proper 
understanding, and a deep conviction of the far-reacliing 
nature of God's law, our eternal all depends. It is generally 
acknowledged that souls must be convicted of sin before they 
will feel any desire to go to Christ ; but they cannot be con~ 
victed of sin unless they understand the law through which 
"is the knowledge of sin." We must repent of sin; but how 
can we do so unless we understand intelligently what consti- 
tutes sin ? Our Lord tells us that he will love most who has 
had most forgiven ; and he only will feel that he has had most 
forgiven, who has the fullest conceptions of the spirituality 
and holiness of the divine law. 

I. God's law takes cognizance of the internal as well as the 
external actions of men — of the feelings and emotions of the 
heart, as well as the actions of the life. In regard to the laws 
of men, they are generally confined to the outward act, because 
man cannot read the heart of his fellow-man. We may indeed 
form suspicions and conjectures in regard to others, but we 
cannot apply the law till there is the evidence of the actual deed. 



4i8 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



A man may be a traitor in his heart, but man's law treats him 
as a loyal man till he commits the outward act. So a man may 
be a thief and a murderer in his heart, and yet human law will 
treat him as if honest and benevolent till convicted of some 
positive crime. But God's law plunges down into the deep 
secrets of man's moral nature, and flings a flood of light upon 
things that were buried up in darkness. God's law goes upon 
the principle that what we speak with our tongue, and do with 
our hands, and exhibit in our life, forms but a very small part 
of our moral character. There are dark passions of jealousy, 
and revenge, and hatred, and malignity, and lust, and wild am- 
bition, that have dashed and surged through the soul, like big 
waves chasing each other across an angry and troubled sea, 
and yet have never found an outward expression. There are 
innumerable sins planned and resolved upon in the dark re- 
cesses of the heart, that have never been carried out, for want 
of power or opportunity, not for want of will, and God's law 
makes a record of these. The eternal voice thunders out, 
" God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret 
thing.'' 

Men may think very lightly of these secret sins of the soul, 
but these form the true bases of character. Out of the heart 
come the issues of life, and the true tests of our being are to 
be found far more in what is inward than in what is outward, 
Actions pleasing, attractive, outwardly excellent, may spring 
from inward motives that are an abomination in the eyes of a 
holy God. The law draws a perfect likeness of the soul — a 
complete photograph of the inner man ; and holding it up be- 
fore the sinner, he must either confess the correctness of the 
likeness, and break down in repentance, or his soul will flame 
out in enmity against the law and its author. 

The law extends its condemning power not only to what we 
do, but what we do 7iot do. It registers our sins of omission, 
as well as our sins of commission. We are not merely to " cease 
to do evil," but to "learn to do well." The sinner may prove 
his own apologist, and exclaim, "What have I done.?" But 
even if he could prove that he has done no positive wrong, the 



LA^' AND GOSPEL. 



419 



fact that he has done no positive good will be enough to con- 
demn him, and will thunder out in his ears — " Thou wicked and 
slothful servant!" He may not have blotted and stained the 
page of his life with dark crimes, but the fact that he has not 
made it a record of noble and godly deeds will be his condem- 
nation. 

How solemn and far-reaching, then, is the law ! Like the 
Great Being from whom it emanated, it is " about our bed and 
about our path, and spies out all our ways." It permits of no 
neutral position. It interferes with all our doing, and thinking, 
and feeling, and makes all connected with us bear the stamp 
of its approval or its condemnation. Fpom the first dawnings 
of responsibility till tottering old age it follows us, marking 
every step and searching with piercing gaze every secret spring 
of motive in the soul. 

II. It follows from what we have said that the whole world- 
is guilty in God's sight of having broken his law. We may go 
away back as far as we please, and search the most ancient 
records of nations, and we can find no race of people who 
served and loved God perfectly. Not one family — nay, not 
one solitary individual can be found who naturally grew up tc 
perfect holiness, and rendered what the law demands — a spot- 
less hfe. Where is the man who would dare to lay his hand upon 
his heart and say, while the pure eye of God looks him through 
and through, *' I have never sinned V* Navigators and discov- 
erers, with all their research, have never yet found a single spot 
of God's earth that sm had not defiled. 

But on this point we have the very highest testimony — that 
of God himself That Being who must know man's spiritual 
condition, and who cannot utter what is not true regard- 
ing him, and says of our race — " They are all gone aside, they 
are altogether become filthy ; there is none that doeth good, no, 
not one." This is not the verdict of an enemy, but of our best 
Friend. As you have heard a father speak of the faults of his 
prodigal son, his lips quivering with emotion, and the tears 
trembling in his eyes, and felt assured that he loved that son too 
well eithei to exaggerate his offences or to utter anything unnec- 



420 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

essarily severe ; so, when the loving God describes us as sinners 
— as corrupt to the very centre of our being — as even filled with 
enmity and hatred to himself, then it is time that every mouth 
should be stopped and all confess themselves guilty before God. 
It is true that education and refinement, and the influence of 
polished society joined to a naturally amiable disposition, may 
to a mere surface-observer make it appear as if God's verdict 
was too general and severe ; but we should remember that a 
very rotten piece of wood may be handsomely painted and var- 
nished, and that white and polished marble and fragrant flow- 
ers may cover the corruption of the grave. " Man looketh upon 
the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart." 

If a man can prove that he has always loved God with his 
whole heart and soul, then he is not a sinner, and the law does 
not condemn him ; but if he cannot do this, then it is utter fol- 
ly to put his obedience in some things over against his disobe- 
dience in other things, and try to make the one balance the 
other. As well might you say that a man's truthfulness yester- 
day will atone for his falsehood to-day, or that a man's honesty 
for a number of years would cancel the guilt of his becoming a 
thief. No, If we have broken the law even in one thing, its ter- 
rible curse comes upon us; we stand under the dark, frowning 
brows of Sinai, while the forked lightnings flash around us, and 
the bolt of death may at any moment strike us. Justice sternly 
points to the broken tablets of the holy law, and draws her in- 
flexible sword. All apologies and excuses for sin are in vain. 
Who can testify for the sinner, when God testifies against him } 
His verdict of guilty has gone forth, and we cannot reverse it. 
Let man's lofty opinion of himself fall before the decisions of 
the Lord. 

III. Here we may clearly see that sinners can never be saved 
by the law. " By the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be 
justified." It is not the province of the law to save, but to con- 
demn — not to pardon, but to convict. As Dr. Arnot says, " The 
law never saved a sinner; if it did, it would be no longer a law. 
If it softened and yielded at any one point, it were absolutely 
annulled. If any sin or any sinner is allowed to pass, where is 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 42 1 

the justice of punishing any sin or any sinner? To bend any 
commandment for the accommodation of a defaulter is to blot 
out the law. The law, by its very nature, can have no partiali- 
ties and no compunctions. It never saves those who transgress, 
and never weeps for those who perish." 

If a man has committed only one sin in the course of his 
whole life, for that one sin the law must inflict punishment. 
The rest of his life might be that of obedience. He 
might pour out tears and regrets over that one sin; but the 
rigorous, inflexible law says, *' Cursed is every one that contin- 
ueth not in a// tJmigs that are written in the book of the law to 
do them." Suppose, for example, that a man commits a mur- 
der. He escapes from the officers of the law, who are in pursuit 
of him. He goes to another part of the country, and becomes 
in course of time a very respectable, law-abiding citizen. Fifty 
years may pass away, by which time he has risen to the highest 
positions of honor in the town where he resides. But he is dis- 
covered at last, put upon his trial, and condemned to die. 
Would it do for him to plead, as a reason why he should not be 
executed, that for fifty long years he had not killed a single man } 
Or would it do to plead his subsequent good life, his respecta- 
bility, or his deep regrets for his crime 1 No ; these things, 
however they might move our sympathies, would not satisfy the 
law. For the transgressor the law has nothing but vengeance : 
it never can extend the olive branch of peace. 

Sinner, if you are ever saved, it cannot be by the deeds of 
the law — by your own goodness. How it can ever be expected 
by a reflecting mind that God's favor is to be obtained, his jus- 
tice satisfied, and a heaven of purity secured by the outward 
performances of a sinful creature, is a mystery of self-delusion ; 
and yet this is the first thought of the sinner when led to feel 
his lost condition By fastings and prayer, by the bestowal of 
abundant charities, by a life of honesty and truthfulness, by the 
faithful discharge of social duties and a careful observance of 
religious forms, multitudes are seeking to secure a title to 
heaven. Many of them with great perseverance and energy 
carry their self-righteousness to the highest perfection. Kind 



422 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

and amiable, refined and generous, filled with a fervent zeal for 
their church, and cultivating exalted religious emotions; we can- 
not but admire their conscientiousness, while we deeply bewail 
their delusion. If their plan of being saved is the> right one^ 
then the death of Jesus was unnecessary. They boldly ignore 
his work, and march up to the bar of a holy God, and proudly 
expect to stand upon their own merits. Oh, sinner ! awake from 
this mad dream ! You will not dare to say that you have nev- 
er sinned ; and if you had committed but one sin, you are un- 
der the curse of the law. God will not bring the law down to 
your standard, and you cannot lift yourself up to its demands 
of perfection. Occupying your present stand-point, you are a 
lost man. Unless you can be induced to change your ground, 
you are as sure of peirdition as if already there. 

IV. Here it is that the glorious gospel comes in. During 
the seige of Calais by Edward III. an incident occurred which 
may be used to illustrate the truth. The King had been engaged 
for a year in carrying on the siege, when at last the place sur- 
rendered, and the people asked the privilege of going out with 
their lives. Enraged at them for the stubbornness of their de- 
fence, which had so long baffled him, the monarch demanded 
that six of their principal citizens should come to him with the 
keys of the city, with their heads and feet bare and halters 
about their necks. Six brave men volunteered to go, when the 
King in a rage commanded them to be executed at once. The 
Queen, however, interceded for them, and obtained their par- 
don. She then took them to her own tent, bestowed upon 
them many presents of money and clothes, and sent them back 
to their friends. This was great kindness, but nothing to the 
love of God displayed in providing pardon for condemned sin- 
ners. These noble-hearted men deserved not to die, but sinners 
have fully merited eternal condemnation. God was the first to 
propose terms of mercy, and when he pardons, it is like him- 
self, by adopting us into his family and making us his children. 

Our lost and helpless condition under the curse of the law 
brought out a new word, the meaning of which we never could 
have understood unless man had fallen. It is the word grace. 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 425 

God does not show grace to the sinless angels. He loves them 
and is good to them, and fills them with pure bliss, but he has 
never shown them grace, for they have never needed it. They 
have never sinned, and love and goodness are their due. 
Grace is something shown to the undeserving and the lost. 
Our sins, so far from disqualifying us for God's grace, form 
our only qualification for receiving it. Vast military hospitals 
are* provided, and noble Christian women go there, and pour 
out the wealth of their sympathy in acts of kindness — not be- 
cause they are well, but because they are sick. Their sickness 
is the thing that has called out all this kindness. So it is not 
because we are so worthy^ but because we are so tvorthless, that 
God's grace comes to us. We did not go seeking it, it came 
seeking us. It went to the Jerusalem sinners in the midst of 
their guilt, to the Corinthians in the midst of their vileness, to 
the dying thief in his lost condition, and " where sin abounded, 
grace did much more abound." 

But God does not use his grace to subvert his law, but in a 
way that establishes it. His grace and his government are 
found walking hand in hand. " Mercy and truth have met to- 
gether, righteousness and peace have embraced each other," 
when God's own Son became our substitute, and bore the 
curse of the law for us. For us he was "stricken, smitten of 
God and afflicted." Our substitute voluntarily came forth 
and bared his bosom to the sword of Justice for us. " No man 
taketh my life from me; I lay it down of myself." Had there 
been compulsion in the matter, it would have been unjust, and 
could not, therefore, have met the claims of the law ; and had 
he been a mere man, or even an angel, could he have paid the 
penalty 7 It was his Godhead, in connection with the human- 
ity, that gave infinite efficacy to the sacrifice. So that when 
we look at the Cross we see the highest claims of the law fully 
met, and a way opened up by which the guiltiest sinner may 
go free. We can look up from the Cross and see a satisfied 
and a well-pleased God. 

Hence Jesus is called "the \^o\d our righteousness." Oh! 
the glory and blessedness of that little word " our," in such a 



424 'i'^E WORLD S HOPE. 

connection ! Still better when, by the faith of appropriation, we 
are able to say, "the Lord my righteousness." When the poor 
soul looks at its own sins, it can find no comfort ; when it looks 
up to a pure, sin-hating God, it can find no comfort; when it 
looks up to a holy heaven, with its faultless congregation, it can 
find no comfort; but when, by faith, it looks to Jesus, the great 
Substitute, paying the full penalty for sin, and can say, " He is 
MY righteousness!" all is comfort and peace. If God is satis- 
fied with that, surely the sinner should be satisfied. 

But the atonement not only satisfies the justice of God ; it 
satisfies and brings peace to the trembling, guilty conscience. 
It was in the very nature of things, and according to the very 
constitution of man's nature, that he should tremble with 
guilty dread of God the moment he became a sinner. Just as 
surely as a magazine of powder will explode at the touch of a 
spark of fire, just so certain is it that remorse and fear will 
flame out from the human conscience when touched by sin. 
The indulgence of sin gives a terrible meaning to the word 
remorse. It is this that makes " the wicked flee when no man 
pursueth;" that makes the most hardened sinner, when sud- 
denly confronted with death and judgment, send up his de- 
spairing cry to heaven, and strangely mingle his prayers and his 
blasphemies together. It is this that makes the murderer's life 
one of constant misery, though he may have escaped the ven- 
geance of the law. The blood of a brother upon his con- 
science makes the whole universe all eyes to him — makes him 
tremble at the shaking of a leaf, or even the throbbings of his 
own guilty heart. It was the power of a conscious guilt that 
gave rise to the human sacrifices among the heathen, the bare 
recital of which fills us with horror. They offered the fruit of 
their body for the sin of their soul. 

Now the blood of Christ gives peace to the conscience — not 
by destroying its power or by causing it to lay aside its func- 
tions, but by giving it a perfect assurance that the claims of jus- 
tice have all been met, and that the sins that lie like great 
mountains upon the conscience have all been atoned for. The 
very attributes of God, the contemplation of which shook the 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 



425 



soul with terror, such as justice and holiness, when viewed 
through the Cross, become objects of delight. Justice, instead 
of seeking his death, now that her claims are all satisfied, seeks 
his salvation ; and holiness becomes not only the object of his 
admiration, but of his imitation. Conscience no longer looks 
into the future with a fearful looking-for of judgment, but with 
a blissful, calm serenity. The law can only gather a man's 
sins together in huge^heaps, and leave them upon the con- 
science, to burden it ; but the gospel takesthem away, and casts 
them into the depths of forgetfulness. The law sternly points 
out the right, and says " Thou shalt" or " Thou shalt not ;" 
but the gospel says, "Come unto me, and I will give you re-st ;" 
" Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin* of the 
world!" "Ah!" says Conscience, "if the sin of the worlds 
then surely viy sin !" 

There are, alas ! multitudes of professing Christians who are 
living half way, as it were, between the law and the gospel. 
Now they listen to the thunder tones of the law, in its perfect 
requirements and its tremendous sanctions, and they are filled 
with trembling dread ; and then they listen for a little to the 
still, small voice of Calvary, and they are a little comforted. 
One day they are examining themselves, to see how near they 
can come to a satisfaction of the law's demands ; and then they 
are filled with doubts and fears, and are ready to give up all for 
lost. Next day they cast a glance at the up-lifted Saviour, and 
have a little more confidence. Thus they keep wavering be- 
tween Moses and Christ, between the law and the gospel, 
and are doubters, hopers, waverers, but never true, re- 
joicing believers. They do not fully understand either 
the law or the gospel. If they understood the law fully, 
it would drive them to Christ, never to leave him ; and 
if they understood Christ fully, they would see no need of 
seeking justification by the deeds of the law. " The law is our 
schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ." 

My dear reader, let me entreat you to abandon all hope of 
saving yourself. You might as well attempt to walk upon the 
pathless sea, or to soar to unexplored worlds above us, as to rise 



426 THE world's hope. 

into God's favor out of Christ. The truths I have been urging, 
upon you have not the charm of novelty — you may often have 
heard them before; but if you do not personally and practically 
receive them, that will only increase your condemnation. I be- 
lieve it is Coleridge who says : " To restore a common-place 
truth to its first uncommon power you need only translate it 
into action." Obey the gospel by a personal application, by 
faith, of its truths, and it will put a new song in your mouth, 
new views of God in your mind, and new joys and emotions in 
your heart. It will make you " a new creature in Christ Jesus." 

A hearty, full confidence in Jesus is what is alone well-pleas- 
ing to God. When the Elector of Hanover was newly chosen, 
a number of gentlemen waited upon him, to make application 
for offices. Several had their requests granted, and confirmed 
by a promissory note. At length one gentleman was appointed 
to the Mastership of the Rolls, and the Elector was about to 
give him the usual note, when the gentleman requested him 
not to put himself to the trouble, as he regarded his Highness' 
word as the very best assurance he could have. The Elector, 
we are told, was delighted with this confidence reposed in him, 
and said, " This is the gentleman who does me a real honor — 
treats me like a King; and whoever is disappointed, he shall 
certainly be gratified." Thus God is well-pleased to have his 
word trusted, and faith glorifies and honors him. It takes hold 
of his princely word, and deems that all-sufficient. 

On this point the Rev. Ralph Erskine says : " Faith takes 
hold of Christ in his love, and the proof of this love as magni- 
fied in the word, and says, ' Oh, here is a letter from heaven ! 
— the gospel of Christ! giving an account of his love; and I 
see the letter is backed and endorsed for me^ a guilty sinner, 
the chief of sinners ; and the letter bears a command to me, to 
receive this letter to myself^ and that I believe his love, and the 
proof of his love, with application to myself; and therefore, even 
so I take him and trust upon his word, that he loved me, and 
gave himself for me.' This faith comes not by feeling of his 
love — that may be the fruit of faith; but it comes by the hear- 
ing of his love. The Spirit makes impressions on the heart by 



LAW AND GOSPEL. 427 

the word, but the ground of faith is not these impressions on the 
heart ; for the object of faith is not Christ working on the heart, 
but. Christ speaking in the word." 

Dear reader, my great aim in the foregoing remarks is to 
convince you that you cannot reach heaven from Sinai, but 
only from Calvary ; that the law can only kill, and Christ aioce 
^ives life. 



CHAPTER V. 
The Dying Words of Jesus. 

" It is finished." John 19 : 30. 

The dying words of our friends are always felt to possess a 
deep and a §olemn interest. We feel that we are listening for 
the last time to that voice which has often thrilled our hearts 
and opened fountains of joy in our souls. We feel that those 
lips are soon to be cold in death, and sealed in the silence of 
the grave, and that those farewell utterances are too precious to 
be forgotten. Where is the man who has stood by the bedside 
of a pious mother, and from her pale and quivering lips heard 
her parting counsels, who can ever forget them ? He may wan- 
der through the most rude and boisterous scenes of earthly folly, 
and plunge recklessly into the vortex of sin ; but amid the 
pauses of his mad career, the voice of that dying mother will 
be heard ringing through every chamber of his soul, in tones 
solemn and awful as a voice from eternity. 

One reason why we listen to the last words of our friends 
with so much interest is, that we feel them to be ho7iest words. 
In the awful presence of death, and with eternity breaking in 
solemn grandeur upon their view, there is no room for words of 
trifling or flattery. We naturally suppose that the last panting 
and failing breath will only be employed in the utterance of 
something which they regard as important, and hence we are 
unwilling to let one syllable escape us ; and years after they 
have been sleeping in the dust we think of their last expressions 
of love, of interest in our welfare, of fervent desire for our 
spiritual good, as among our holiest heart-memories. Even 
when our own last hour of searching trial comes, and the King of 
Terrors stands at our bedside, shaking his uplifted dart, the 
memory of the last words of triumph uttered by departed 
friends helps to strengthen our faith amid the fearful conflict — 

428 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 429 

a plain proof that no man liveth to himself, so no man dieth to 
himself. 

If these things be true of the dying words of our earthly- 
friends, how much more so of the dying words of Jesus. If 
the last words of the Christian are held sacred, how much more 
those of the Christian's Lord — the God-man. 

It is very true that all the words which he ever uttered were 
weighty, important and precious. He never uttered one vain 
or idle word, nor one that was not calculated to minister grace 
to the hearer; his enemies themselves being judges — "Never 
man* spake like this man." But we feel that his dying words 
must have a peculiar interest. In that hour, the most solemn 
and important which the universe has ever witnessed — when the 
world's guilt was laid upon him — and all the powers of hell 
seemed let loose against him — the few sentences which he 
uttered must ever be very dear to all who have learned to love 
and revere his name. 

In these few words, " It is finished," there is wrapped up for 
every believing soul the greatest gift which God could give or 
man receive — a perfect salvation. It is one of the most precious 
sentences in a book full of heavenly gems. It contains only 
three words, but it has far more than three ideas, for eternity 
cannot exhaust the blessings which it unfolds. Every portion 
of the word of God is profitable ; but there are a few brief, 
pointed sentences that rise in beauty and grandeur above the 
others, like Niagara among waterfalls, or like some vast moun- 
tain that sends its sky-piercing summit above all others. Take, 
for example, that sentence into which God breathed his own 
omnipotence — " Let there be light;" or that other, which brings 
God so near to us that we feel that we would not give it up for 
all the books that uninspired men have ever written — " God is 
love;" or that other, which tells us that Jesus, while he is our 
God, is also our brother, and makes us feel his heart of deep 
sympathy throbbing against ours — " Jesus wept." 

So with the words " It is finished." It is the answer to many 
an anxious question which had broken from the troubled heart 
of humanity for four thousand years. It is the top-stone put 



430 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



upon the wonderful fabric of Almighty grace. It gathers 
around itself all that is loving in God's dealings with our race 
in the past, and all that faith and hope sees of glory in the 
future, and shows us the source of the one and the solid founda- 
tion of the other. Dear reader, you may have been acquainted 
with theserwords from your earliest youth ; you may have heard 
them and repeated them a thousand times, till they have become 
as familiar to your mind as the alphabet ; but if you have not yet 
foand the pardon of all your sins in them, if you have not been 
saved by them, you have as yet read and heard them to no 
purpose but to increase your condemnation. 

Let us now gather around the Cross, and ponder upon what 
was our Lord's meaning when he uttered these words, and may 
the Holy Spirit apply them with power to our hearts. 

First, our Lord did not merely mean that now his life of trial 
and suffering was at an end. No doubt this was true, and a 
glorious truth it must have been to one who bore such a life- 
burden of suffering, that by general consent the designation of 
" the man of sorrows " was given to him. We can form no 
conception of the amount of anguish that was compressed into 
those thirty-three years of his brief life on earth. All the way 
from the manger to the Cross was marked by suffering such as 
defies the descriptive power of both poetry and eloquence. He 
could say with divine propriety, " Behold and see if there be 
any sorrow like unto my sorrow." The greater part of these 
sorrows were not outward, but inward — not the mere sufferings 
of the flesh, but the deeper anguish of the soul. 

There are persons who can form no idea of such anguish. 
They are mere bundles of sense — masses of flesh and blood. 
If they are not pinched by hunger and thirst, or if physical pain 
does not drive its sharp goads through their nerves, they can 
form no conception of that interior anguish which deeply sen- 
sitive spirits feel. And what is all physical pain, convulsing 
every limb and shaking every nerve to dissolution, compared to 
the trembling spirit struggling under its own load of sorrow, 
which no earthly aid can help it to bear ! Now our adorable 
Saviour had a mind of the tenderest sensibility — of the keenest 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 431 

feeling. He felt an infinite abhorrence of the sin with which 
he was constantly coming in contact, and yet the tenderest 
compassion for the sinners. He could see, as none other who 
ever dwelt on earth did see, or can see, the deep compassion of 
that love which sinners are rejecting, the horrors of that perdi- 
tion upon which sinners are rushing, and the sublime glories of 
that heaven of bliss upon which they are turning their backs. 

And with all this constantly before his omniscient eye, how 
deep must have been his anguish when he passed through pop- 
ulous cities and towns, and saw scarcely a soul in sympathy with 
the truth that alone can save ! And when we add to this the 
fact, that the baptism of blood through which he was to pass, 
the fearful curse due to sin which he was to bear, and the dark 
tempest of divine displeasure that was to beat upon his holy 
soul were ever before him, we are able to see, apart from his 
physical sufferings, a reason why the shadow of some big woe 
seemed ever to rest upon him, and why we hear so often of his 
tears, and so seldom of his joys. 

When he uttered my text all this was about to end. For the 
homeless exile, who had not where to lay his head, the Father's 
house of many mansions was about to open its kindly doors. 
Instead of the contradiction of sinners, the shouts of unholy 
mockery, and the roar of blasphemy that was now in his ears, he 
was soon to hear the song of all heaven in his praise. The 
crown of thorns was soon to be exchanged for a crown of glory ; 
the hand pierced by the nail to hold the sceptre of universal 
power, and the position of an outcast criminal to be exchanged 
for a name at which every knee shall yet bow. All this is true, 
and yet it is not a thousandth part of the truth contained in the 
words " It is finished." 

Again : Our Lord did not mean by these words that in con- 
sequence of his death all men would be saved. After he -tri- 
umphed over the grave, and just before his ascension to glory, 
he told his disciples who would be saved and who would not. 
" He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that 
believeth not shall be damned." The mere fact that Jesus has 
died for you, my reader, does not necessarily secure your sal- 



432 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

vation ; nay, you may make such a use of that fact that it will a 
thousand fold increase your condemnation ; for to go into the 
presence of God with not only our sins as a swift witness 
against us, but with the rejected blood of Jesus condemning 
us, is the most awful position any soul can occupy. Hence, 
wherever the apostles went, they preached that unbelief or re- 
jection of Christ was a damning sin. They did not preach that 
because Jesus died for all men, therefore all men would be 
saved, but cried, " How can ye escape if ye neglect so great 
salvation!" The result was that men became alarmed under 
their preaching wherever they went. Their hearers were often 
cut to the heart by the most powerful convictions of guilt, and 
under a sense of the extreme peril of their condition, cried out> 
" What shall we do to be saved .<*" — -a plain proof that the apos- 
tles did not preach that all men would be saved by Jesus, 
whether they trusted him or not. 

Again : Jesus did not mean by these words that holiness of 
heart and purity of character were rendered unnecessary by 
his finished work. A man may profess trust in the death of 
Jesus, and an entire reliance on the merits of the Saviour, 
while he is living in sin and in the unchecked indulgence of his 
depraved nature. He may talk of his faith in the atonement, 
and boast of the peace which his faith gives him, while love of 
sin, in all its unbroken power, is reigning in his heart. But 
such a faith is dead^ and will no more save his soul than the 
faith of devils saves them. It is an unholy perversion of the 
most glorious of all truths. It is holding the truth in un- 
righteousnesss, and turning the grace of our God into lascivious- 
ness. It is sinning because grace abounds, and making the 
blood of Christ the minister of sin. Upon the guilty heads of 
such vile perverters of the truth the wrath of God will come to 
the uttermost. With the impudent and brazen effrontery that 
makes them assume so much now, they will at last knock at 
heaven's gate, saying, "Lord, open unto us!" but like an 
avenging blast to sweep them away shall be the reply, " I never 
knew you ' Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity !" 

If a man is saved by the finished work of Jesus, he is saved 




" IT IS FIX[SIIED ! " 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 433 

fro7?i his sins, and made a partaker of his Saviours holiness. 
The moment he becomes Christ's he gets in some degree the 
mind that was in Christ — a mind distinguished by uncom- 
promising hatred of all sin. Many have feared that the preach- 
ing of justification by faith must have a tendency to encourage 
men in sin, and that it must be dangerous to the interests of 
morality to go to all men, whatever their character, and tell 
them that there is nothing left for them to do in order to be 
saved but to believe in Jesus with their whole hearts. To go to 
the drunkard, the swearer, the Sabbath-brea*ker, the man who 
has outraged all the decencies of life, and set at open defiance 
the laws both of God and man — the man who has written all 
over his moral character that he is a child of wrath and on his 
way to hell ; to go to such, and tell them that just as they are, 
without waiting to make themselves better, they must now come 
to Jesus, who alone can cleanse them from all their sins, seems 
to some persons an utter perversion of all truth upon this sub- 
ject. They would have us to go to such and preach to them, 
first, morality, and the necessity of a reformation of life. They 
would have us exhort them to build up a good character and a 
reputation for moral worth among their fellow men, and that 
then we might invite them to come to Christ, to help them out 
with whatever was deficient for their admission to heaven. 

Such are the views of a class of proud Pharisees, who are 
equally ignorant of the gospel and human nature. Such per- 
sons seem to overlook the fact that the holy eye of God looks 
upon the heart ; that in his sight nothing can be recognized as 
a true act of obedience that does not spring from love to him ; 
that an impure fountain cannot send forth pure streams ; and 
that, therefore, no reformation of the outward man can be per- 
manent which is not founded upon an entire change of the 
inner man. This change nothing but faith in Christ can pro- 
duce. A noted minister tells us that he preached morality, and 
nothing else, to his people, till he had scarcely a moral man in 
his parish ; but when his own heart was touched by the love of 
Christ, and he began to preach the great doctrine of justifica- 
tion by faith, a wave of holy influence rolled over the whole 



434 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

parish ; bad men became good, and good men better ; the 
drunkard dashed from his lips the maddening cup; the dis- 
honest, the impure, the reckless and the profane became 
patterns of all that is virtuous and of good report, while of the 
bold blasphemer it was once more said, " Behold, he prayeth !', 

" Talk they of morals ? Oh, thou bleeding Lamb ! 
The true morality is love to thee." 

The way in which faith in the finished work of Calvary pro- 
duces such a transforming change is by producing love to 
Jesus, and consequently hatred to sin. It is impossible for any 
sinner to believe that Jesus endured the untold agonies of the 
Cross for him, without his heart being melted into love by it. 
Constituted as we are, the hearty belief of pure, disinterested 
love must always beget love. " We love him because he first 
loved us." And if we love Jesus, we will be specially solicitouj 
to please and obey him. The first question that leaps out 
spontaneously from every heart touched by the holy fire of 
Christ's love is, "Lord, what wilt thou have me do?" In the 
awful scenes of Calvary the sinner learns to see the great evil of 
sin, and to hate it with a perfect hatred; and the love of Christ 
constraining him, he begins a war of extermination against it in 
his own heart, in the church, in the world, in high places or in 
low ; whether it be sin flaunting in gay apparel, and painted or 
varnished by an outward respectability, or sin in its most vulgar 
and repulsive forms. 

We see, then, that a two-fold object is effected by faith in the 
precious blood of Christ: the sinner's guilt is pardoned, and 
the sinner's heart is purified. " Faith worketh by love and pu- 
rifieth the heart." Wherever this doctrine is preached in faith- 
fulness, it changes the whole aspect of society. By the preach- 
ing of this truth the apostles turned the world upside down, 
uprooting the long-established and hoary systems of error 
around them; and, in spite of the combined opposition of kings 
and priests, earthly governments and earthly potentates, doing 
more for the moral elevation of man in a few months than the 
combined philosophies of the world had done in the past centu- 
ries. Though the preaching the Cross has always been to the 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 435 

proud and worldly foolishness, yet it has ever been " the power 
of God unto salvation ;" and just as sure as it conquered proud 
hearts in the dwelling of Caesar, just so certain is it that it will 
go on to conquer till the sun in the heavens will not look down 
upon a single individual in whose heart the love of Jesus is not 
supreme. 

It was by preaching the simple doctrine of justification by 
faith that Luther shook the world and rolled away the thick 
darkness of ignorance and superstition that had settled down 
upon the nations, as we have seen the thick mists rolling up the 
mountain side before the brightness of the rising sun. We are 
told that when the Moravian missionaries went first among the 
Greenlanders, they spoke to them chiefly of the being of a God, 
the creation of the world, the fall of man, and such like topics, 
to which the people listened with perfect indifference ; but when 
they began to speak to them of the love of Jesus, their hearts 
melted before it like their own snow heaps before the summer 
sun. 

The Rev. Dr. Fuller, speaking of a missionary that went 
among the Indians, says : *' He was sent among the Indians, and 
he preached to them with all his earnestness, of God, his power, 
his grandeur and his glory ; but they turned away and laughed 
at him. Why, they had heard far nobler sermons on these sub- 
jects than man could utter. They had sat down by day amid 
the wild pomp of their mountains and the sublime silence of 
their forests, and at night had looked up at the pavement of un- 
fading fire above their heads. They had listened to the rushing 
of the cataract, ' deep calling unto deep,' and to the music of 
the tempest and the cry of the hurricane. Before their eyes the 
lightning's fiery flood had rifted the sturdy oak, and hoarse and 
strong had thundered on beneath them the might of the earth- 
quake. They had heard these preach, and they preached of 
God in tones which mocked the puny articulations of human 
eloquence. And now, that the white man should come to tell 
them that there is a God, and that this God is great, and pow- 
erful, and glorious — they spurned at him in hardness and deris- 
ion. Baffled in his first effort, the missionary changed his 



436 THE world's hope. 

address, and proclaimed a crucified Jesus. Nor did he preach 
in vain now. The gaze of his audience was at once fastened. 
They were astonished at the doctrine, and their hearts were at 
once touched. As the speaker went on with ' the faithful saying 
and worthy of all acceptation,' as he led them from scene to 
scene of the Saviour's humiliation and sorrow — from the man- 
ger to the garden, and from the garden to the judgment hall — 
smothered sobs and murmurs began to be heard, until at last, 
when he brought them to the Cross, and showed them, nailed 
there, the abused and [suffering Son of God, and said, 'All this 
for you — these tears, these groans, this blood for you !' — the poor 
savages could refrain no longer — they had stood all else, but 
they could not stand this ; they exclaimed, ' Is this true ? is this 
true .'*' and lifted up their voices and wept aloud." 

We come now to show more particularly what was our Lord's 
meaning when he uttered these memorable words ; and we will 
better understand what was finished if we ask what was needed 
to be done ; for whatever needed to be done to effect the work 
of man's salvation, so far as removing all the obstacles on God's 
part out of the way, that we may rest assured the blessed Saviour 
has done. The words " It is finished " teach us that the claims 
of God's justice had been fully met by his death. God had 
given man a perfect, just and holy law — a law highly reasonable 
in itself, and, if kept, calc^ilated to promote man's highest good. 
This law may be expressed in a few words : " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart." It demands, then, per- 
fect obedience — the love of the M^iole heart, and the constant 
obedience of the whole life. That obedience we have not ren- 
dered, for where is the man who dare put his hand upon his 
heart, and, looking up to the heavens, say, " I have loved God 
with my whole heart, and I have never sinned against him in 
thought, word or action V Such a man is not to be found in 
the whole round of God's earth. " All have sinned and come 
short of the glory of God."' The result of our being sinners, 
then, is that we come under the threatened penalty of the law ; 
for every law must have a penalty attached to it, else it ceases 
to be a law, and only becomes a piece of friendly advice, which 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 437 

we may take or reject as we please. The penalty attached to 
God's law is death — the death of the soul — eternal death. To 
incur this penalty it is not necessary that man should be an 
outwardly notorious offender; it is not necessary that he break 
the whole or the greater portion of the ten commandments. If 
he has broken but one of them — if he has not loved the Lord 
his God with all his heart during the whole of his life — he comes 
under the curse of the law, for it is written, " Cursed is every 
one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book 
of the law to keep them." 

If any one should object, and ask why God should give a per- 
fect law to such imperfect creatures, I would reply, that God 
did maks man perfect, aud he wilfully destroyed himself. Be- 
sides, if God gave man any law at all, it must have been a per- 
fect law. An imperfect law woul(^ have been a sinful law — a 
law which would permit man a license to sin up to a given 
point, which would be making God the author of sin, which in 
the infinitely Holy One is impossible. Here, then, we see the 
whole race of Adam standing condemned before their Maker — 
under the fearful curse of the law-^condemned already. 

But Jesus becomes our substitute, and bears the curse for us. 
He took up that law which we have trampled upon, and mag- 
nified it and made it honorable, by rendering it a perfect obedi- 
ence, and by showing that it was his meat and his drink to obey 
it, saying " I delight to do thy will, O my God !" He gave him- 
self in our room and stead, the just for the unjust. He satis- 
fied the very highest demands of justice. The divinity of his 
nature and the infinite purity of his character gave such worth 
to his atonement, such value to his blood, that the claims of 
God's justice are more fully met than if a whole world of sin- 
ners had been sent to perdition ; yea, so fully satisfied is justice 
that it now unites with love in urging the sinner to return 
to his God. It was in full view of a result so glorious that 
our Lord said, "It is finished." 

We see, then, that the atonement of the Lord Jesus was not 
the cause of God's love, but the result of it. God does not love 
us because Jesus died, but Jesus died because God loved us. 



438 THE world's hope. 

God loved the sinner as much before Jesus died as he did after 
it ; but there was no channel in which that love could flow into 
the sinner's heart in consistence with his truth and justice. 
Mighty barriers stood in the way, which no hands but the bleed- 
ing hands of Jesus could tear away. The truth of God stood in 
the way, in the stern words, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
The justice of God stood in the way, holding in its hand a glit- 
tering sword, aimed at the sinner's heart. But when Jesus bared 
his holy bosom and received its burning point into his own 
heart for the sinner, these barriers were all removed ; and now 
the love of God can flow on without restriction, till it fills with 
pardon and peace the heart of the vilest sinner who trusts in 
his Son. The more of such sinners are saved, the more is God 
glorified ; for they are saved in a way that shows his boundless 
love, while at the same time it exalts his justice and his truth, 
his holiness and his wisdom. 

We understand, then, that when the Saviour uttered these 
words he meant us to believe that the whole work of merit- 
ing our salvation was done by him, and that no prayers, no 
tears, no good resolutions, nd holy emotions, no good works are 
required on our part fo make us acceptable to God. It is a fin- 
ished work, which our Lord presented to the Father, and noth- 
ing can be added to that which is finished and perfected. As 
a proof that the work was perfect, the Father declared himself 
well pleased with it by raising his Son up from the dead, and 
putting all power in heaven and earth into the hands that bore 
the print of the nails, and sending forth a proclamation to the 
whole world that there is " no other name given under heaven 
oramongmenby which we can be saved but the name of Jesus." 

When the sinner comes out'of all self-dependence and trusts 
in Jesus, he from that moment becomes identified with Christ, 
so that he is said to be ift Christ and Christ in him. As the 
branch is connected with the vine, and draws all its life and 
fruitfulness from it. so the believer is so united to Christ that 
" he won't be in glory and leave him behind." He can no more 
be condemned in the last day than Christ can be condemned, 
for he appears in his righteousness and depending alone on his 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 439 

merits ; and this only is the reason why believers are hailed at 
judgment with the kind words, " Well done, good and faithful 
servants," and why they are said in heaven to be " without fault 
before God." 

I have heard of an inquirer, anxious about her soul, asking a 
minister if the work of her salvation had been finished by Jesus ; 
when the reply was that Jesus finished his part of the work, but 
that her part was still to do. Why, if Satan was to become in- 
carnate, and get ordained to the ministry, he could not preach 
more soul-ruining doctrine than this ! What part of the Sav- 
iour's work could be said to be his work ? Was not the whole 
that he did and suffered /(?r us 7 And what, I ask, can we do 
that can add to that work, or that can be called our part of it } 
If it should be said that we are commanded to believe in it, I 
answer that that is very true, but what merit is there in faith } 
Is the poor, perishing beggar entitled to take merit to himself 
for simply opening his hand to receive your bounty.^ Does 
his doing so add anything to the free grace of your gift 1 So 
far from faith adding anything to Christ's finished work, it is its 
province to believe in a work already finished, and from that 
fact alone it is to draw all its certainty of pardon and accept- 
ance. 

It is evident that there are great multitudes who are kept 
from a full acceptance of Christ by a confusion of ideas on this 
subject. Some are eagerly scrutinizing their minds to see if 
they have done their part yet — to see if they have the evidences 
that they are Christians ; and when they have discovered some 
emotions and fruits that look something like what they have 
read or heard of what Christians possess, then they are hopeful 
— almost joyful ; but again, when they cannot discover these 
emotions, they are saddened and depressed. Now what is this 
but making a Saviour of their own feelings .? Others, again, 
have not present faith in Christ's perfected work, but they are 
resting upon some sudden emotion of joy which they felt some 
time in prayer, after a season of great excitement and terror, 
and which they call conversion, although there is no Christ in it. 

Permit me to relate a case in point. A minister preached ai 



440 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

solemn discourse one Sabbath evening, to a large congregation. 
Many were moved to tears, and at the close of the service a 
young man presented himself for conversation, under deep con- 
viction of sin. The " terrors of the Lord had taken hold of 
him," and his sin was made to appear " exceeding sinful.'' 
With a look of deep anguish he exclaimed, " I am a lost sinner ! 
What shall I do.?" After directing him to the Saviour, the 
minister requested one of his deacons who was present to en- 
gage in prayer. That prayer seemed truly inspired by the 
Spirit, and the man of God in his fervent importunity seemed 
like a second Jacob. After a moment of silence the minister 
asked the young man how he felt. He instantly exclaimed, " I 
am happy!" and his beaming countenance and sparkling eye 
bore testimony to the truth of the statement. " What makes you 
happy.?" "That good man's prayers," was the reply. "His 
prayers!" the minister exclaimed; if it be them you are relying 
upon, they will ruin you." His soul was in such deep anguish 
that he was ready to take comfort from any quarter, and during 
the progress of that prayer the thought came into his mind that 
God must hear such a good man, and must forgive him for the 
sake of such prayers ; and as a false hope will for a time give 
peace and joy, as well as the true hope, he instantly cried out, 
"I am happy." And yet he was resting on a false hope, and 
might as well have been depending on the prayers of the 
Virgin Mary. 

In short, let us never forget that until we have rested our 
souls entirely upon the finished work of Jesus, we have not 
taken the v&xy first step in religion. No matter how serious we 
may be — no matter how attentive to many religious duties, nor 
how moral and upright in our outward deportment, till we have 
received Christ as a perfect Saviour we are under the curse of 
the law, and there rests upon our souls the tremendous guilt of 
rejecting the world's Saviour. 

Let me illustrate this in the following way : Here are a 
number of persons who have rebelled against the government^ 
and have been guilty of treason. The penalty which they have 
incurred is death. The Governor, however, at a great sacrifice, 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 441 

sends them the offer of pardon, on terms easy and simple, and 
with which they are all able to comply. But they all with one 
consent reject his way of bestowing pardon, and set about 
working out plans of their own. One is willing to go every day 
to the Governor's house, and to present petitions two or three 
times a day. Another is striving to work up his feelings, so 
that he may feel deeply on account of his crime, while he fasts 
and scourges himself, and thinks that on account of these 
tears and self-mortifications he ought to be pardoned. Another 
reads over the statute book, and makes himself thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the laws of the land, and thinks that on this ac- 
count he should be saved. Thus they go on, each taking his 
own way, but all agreeing in one thing, that they will not sub- 
mit to the Governor's simple and reasonable terms — the only 
terms on which he could consistently save them. When at last 
they are led forth to execution, do they not perish with their 
blood upon their own heads ? So it is with sinners in regard to 
their rejection of the plan of salvation — they professing to be 
willing to do anything to be saved but the very thing that God 
commands — "Believe in the Lord Jesus." They are often 
willing to go to God's house to utter many prayers, to read the 
Bible, to be baptized, to partake of the Lord's Supper, and to 
break off many outward sins ; but in all this there is no religion 
as long as they will not do the very first thing their God re- 
quires of them — submit to be saved by the perfect righteous- 
ness of the Lord Jesus. 

A vessel was once sent out to cruise in the Mediterranean, in 
search of a sunken rock said to exist there. The captain, after 
searching for a long time, abandoned the enterprise, declaring 
the supposed danger a dream. One of his officers afterwards, in 
the same latitude and longitude, discovered a reef of rocks, 
which he reported to the admiralty. His discovery was in- 
serted in the charts, and he was abundantly rewarded. When 
this intelligence reached the old captain, he was deeply offended^ 
and declared the whole thing an imposition, and promised that 
if he ever sailed again in those waters, he would pass his vessel 
right over the spot. Some two years after, he was conveying 



442 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



the British Ambassador to Naples, when one dark, stormy 
night, the two were looking over the chart, when the Ambassa- 
dor pointed out the sunken rocks. " What !" said the captain, 
" is this pretended discovery to meet me in the teeth again ? I 
said I would sail over it the first chance I had, and I will." 
He went down to the cabin, and in a strain of mockery related 
the whole story, and pullmg out his watch, he said : " In five 
minutes we will be over the spot!" There was a pause, when 
he laughingly exclaimed, " Ah ! the time is past ! we have gone 
over the wonderful reef!" But soon a dull, grating sound was 
heard ; then a terrible crash, and the noble vessel had foun- 
dered. By great exertion nearly all were saved. But the cap- 
tain refused to leave the wreck ; he would not survive the 
results of his mad conduct, and soon the wild waves rolled over 
his head. 

He perished because of his unbelief. So shall the sinner 
who rejects Christ. A chart, heaven-drawn and authenticated, 
has been put into his hand. His peril is pointed out by the 
finger of God himself. There is but one way of escape from 
the impending ruin : it is trust in Jesus, for " he that believeth 
not shall be damned." Sinner, cast your whole soul with a 
steadfast trust upon the dying words of Jesus. 

Dear reader, these truths are pressed upon your attention 
with deep solicitude, knowing that if you do not receive them 
you will harden your heart against them. I have somewhere 
read of a Brahmin in India, a part of whose religious creed it 
was not to eat the flesh of animals. A missionary tried to rea- 
son with him on his superstitious notions, and sought to con- 
vince him that he was eating animals when he least suspected 
it. For this purpose he got him to look through a microscope 
at some fruit he had been eating, when he started back in hor- 
ror to see thousands of living animals upon his favorite food. 
Filled with indignation, the Brahmin seized the instrument that 
had brought the unwelcome truth to his mind, and trampled it 
to fragments under his feet. Poor benighted soul ! He could 
destroy the microscope, but he could not destroy the truth 
which it proclaimed ; that remained the same amid all the out- 
bursts of his childish and impotent rage. 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS 443 

In like manner sinners often rage against the truth that con- 
victs them, and loudly denounce as errors those doctrines whose 
power over their trembling consciences is a strong evidence of 
their divine origin. You will hear one repudiating the Bible as 
the unintelligible jargon of a fanatical mysticism, and denounc- 
ing with the fiercest vituperation a book, the evidence of whose 
heavenly origin he has never examined and will not examine, 
and of the contents of which he is profoundly ignorant. You 
will hear another become wildly excited in pouring out his scorn 
upon the doctrine of future punishment ; talking loudly of the 
eternal salvation of all men, whatever their character, while it 
is not difficult to see that he has hard work to convince himself 
of the truth of his utterance, and that, like the schoolboy passing 
the graveyard, he is only "whistling to keep his courage up!'' 
A third class may be seen professing to believe with a sturdy 
faith in all the ghostly stories of a so-called spiritualism^ and yet 
refusing to believe in that sure word of prophecy which has com- 
manded the confidence of the great and the good in all ages oi 
the world. And still another unhappy class may be found, who, 
professing to believe the truths of the Bible, as held by evangeli- 
cal Christians, yet struggle agair^st conviction, fight against the 
efforts of their best friends to do their souls good, and make 
their miserable lives one scene of enmity and contention, and 
unholy passion against Christ's holy love. 

When sinners thus get themselves wrapped up in the darkness 
of unbelief, they will not be persuaded of their great danger, 
because they do not see it. Others see their peril, and are much 
alarmed on their account — " Knowing the terrors of the Lord, 
we persuade men;" but, enveloped in the mantle of darkness, 
they often refuse to believe the warnings of their best friends, 
and regard them as the groundless fancies of excited fanaticism. 

A captain of a vessel crossing the Atlantic was on deck one 
dark, stormy night, when a sudden flash of lightning showed 
him a large vessel bearing right down upon them. He rushed 
to the helm and altered his course, when in an instant the 
strange vessel swept past them, carrying away part of their rig- 
ging ! That light from heaven showed them their danger and 



444 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

saved their lives. The Hght did not make the danger — it only 
showed them what already existed. So it is with you, sinner. 
If God were to show you your danger at this moment, as it 
really is, you would drop upon your knees and cry, *' God be 
merciful to me, a sinner !" The indifference and carelessness 
which you now feel is founded on ignorance of your true peril, 
and is unworthy of a rational and responsible creature. It is a 
brutish indifference — like that of the ox on the way to the 
slaughter. 

When the soul is sunk in the darkness of unbelief it can see 
no beauty in Christ, that it should desire him. In a dark night 
you might pass through the most lovely garden or the most at- 
tractive scenery, and have no emotions of delight awakened in 
your bosom. As it is the light that comes from the sun that 
enables us to see the sun, so it is the light that comes from the 
Sun of Righteousness that enables us to see him in his resplen- 
dent beauty. But sinners shun that light, hate it, and prefer 
darkness ; and, as a result, they see nothing lovely in Christ. 
He is as a root out of a dry ground, having no form nor come- 
liness in him. Thus they go on every day, despising the light 
and trampling upon heaven-sent privileges, forgetting that our 
guilt and our responsibility are in proportion to our light. 

And then we will not merely be judged according to the light 
we have, but according to the light we 7?iight have had. You 
may be ignorant of the gospel; but if you would not go to the 
house of God, where you might have learned it, or if you refuse 
to read the Bible, which would have taught you the way of life, 
you will be judged by the light you thus despised. Oh ! then, 
welcome the light of God ! — it is your best friend amid a world 
of darkness ; it will guide you amid perils that mortal eye can- 
not see ; it will burn bright in your soul as you walk through 
the dark valley, and it will mingle its rays with the glories of 
that heavenly city where they need not the light of the sun. 

All the religion that is in the world may be classified under 
two heads, namely, the religion of man and the religion of 
Christ. Man's religion is a dependence on self-righteousness, 
in some of its forms ; Christ's religion is entire dependence on 



THE DYING WORDS OF JESUS. 44^ 

the finished work of Christ for present pardon and eternal life. 
Now, man's religion knows nothing ^omX. present pardon. Its 
language is, " Do as well as you can, pray as well as you can, 
feel as deeply penitent as you can, be as attentive to your relig- 
ious duties as you can, and some time before you die God will 
forgive you." 

It may vary in form, but everywhere it is essentially the same. 
In the Pharisee it proudly said, " God, I thank thee that I am 
not as other men," Among the heathen it showed itself in hu- 
man sacrifices and painful lacerations of their own bodies. 
Among others it takes the form of penances, fasting, and de- 
pendence on the priest ; while among many who would despise 
this as superstitious it takes the form of striving to make them- 
selves more holy before they come to Christ, of laboring to get 
better feelings and deeper convictions before they come to him, 
or the grosser form of self-righteousness — depending upon some 
outward performance of religious duties, and hoping that God 
will on that account forgive them before they die. 

Now, Christ's religion just begins where man's ends ; it begins 
with pardon. The first religious act it calls upon man to per- 
form is to trust in Jesus, and the moment he thus trusts, he is 
forgiven. Reader, he is near you as you trace these lines. Oh ! 
now bow down before him, and by simple faith cast yourself 
upon his finished work, and you will rise from your knees a 
pardoned soul ! He will say, " Thy sins are forgiven thee ; go 
in peace and sin no more." 



CHAPTER VI. 

LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 
John 3 : i — 18. 

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and hence it is 
all profitable. Man's spiritual life is to be sustained by every 
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. But there are 
some portions of that book which unfold to us more of God's 
character than others — which reveal to us his very hearty and 
thus become unspeakably precious to the heart of the believer. 
For example ! what a legacy to the world is this third chapter 
of John's gospel ! " No man hath seen God at any time ;" but 
here Jesus reveals him to us, and we see the pulsations of the 
great heart of love, as it beats with compassion toward a lost 
world. This chapter contains all that is sublimely mysterious 
and inimitably simple in the conversion of a sinner. It is a 
light-house that has cast its cheering light over many a tempest- 
tossed mind, and guided it through many a storm of passion, 
and prejudice, and unbelief, into the quiet, secure haven of 
trust in Jesus. It answers the question which the great, restless, 
troubled heart of humanity is ever feeling, if not ever asking, 
" What shall I do to be saved .?" 

And, blessed be God ! it does not answer this question in 
metaphysical and theoretical terms, difficult to be understood. 
It does not answer it by a chain of severely logical arguments, 
which only well-disciplined minds could grasp, but in an inter- 
esting narrative, and in the plain, simple words which marked 
the utterances of Him who "spake as never man spake," and 
whom "the common people heard gladly." 

A BLIND LEADER. 

The great city of Jerusalem has sunk into repose, and silence 
reigns, almost unbroken, through streets that sent up but lately 

446 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 447 

the incessant roar so characteristic of great cities. The hum of 
industry, the merry shout of childhood and the wild cry of rev- 
elry have died away, and all is wrapped in the gloom of night. 
But there is one distinguished citizen who cannot sleep, and 
whose anxious mind is grappling with thoughts too big for ut- 
terance. He has been listening to the Great Teacher, and his 
words have burned like fire into his soul. For the first time, he 
is startled by the thought that all is not right with his soul, and 
that his religion of mere ceremonialism is vain before God. At 
length his distress becomes so great that he resolves to see Je- 
sus ; and passing into the dark street, with stealthy step, he goes 
to the place of his temporary abode. 

This was Nicodemus, a member of the Hebrew Sanhedrim, 
and a ruler of the Jews. We can imagine something of the 
deep interest of the scene as he reaches the room where the 
Saviour is lodged, and stands face to face with the Friend of 
Sinn'fers. That once proud and haughty scribe has now come 
to the despised Jesus for instruction about the great interests of 
eternity. The teacher of others comes to be taught himself, 
with a fearful conviction pressing upon his soul that he has 
only been " a blind leader of the blind." Alas ! is it not to be 
feared that there are many professed teachers of Christianity in 
the same awful state ? They are called preachers of the gospel, 
bat the gospel is never preached by them because they do not 
know it. Kind, intelligent, well instructed in many things, full 
of professional zeal, sincere, and anxious to do good, they are, 
nevertheless, leading souls to hell ! They daub with untem- 
pered mortar, and say, " Peace, peace, when there is no peace." I 
believe it is Baxter who gives utterance to the awful sentiment, 
that there will be many in hell who, when upon earth, had often 
made themselves hoarse warning others not to go to that place. 

Krummacher gives the following anecdote, which ought to 
startle every minister into solemn self-examination. 

" Several years ago there lived not far from us a very gifted 
preacher, who had for a considerable time announced with 
great energy and success the word from the Cross, and who, as 
we may suppose, had his share of enemies. One of his oppo- 



448 THE world's hope. 

nents, a man of information, from a distaste of the truth had 
long ceased to frequent the church. One Sabbath morning he 
thought he would once more hear the stern man preach. He 
went to church. The preacher treated of the narrow way, 
which he made neither smaller nor wider than it is made in the 
word of God. During the sermon the visitor thinks within 
himself — ' How is this ! If what the man is saying be the 
truth — O, my God ! what will be the consequence .'"' This 
thought cleaved to him. Wherever he went he heard the whis- 
per in his heart — ' Is it truth or falsehood }' At last he thought 
of going to the preacher, to ask him, upon his conscience, if he 
was convinced of the truth of what he had asserted. ' Sir,' he 
accosts the preacher, ' I was one of your hearers a short time 
since, when you preached of the only way of salvation. You 
have disturbed my inward peace, and I cannot refrain from 
asking you solemnly before God, and upon your conscience, 
whether you can prove your assertions.' The minister replies 
with decisive assurance, that he had spoken God's word, and 
consequently infallible truth. ' O, my God !' exclaimed his visi- 
tor, 'is it thus.? Dear sir, what will become of us .?', * Of us f* 
thinks the minister, rather startled : and repulsing the strange 
us from his heart, he commences expounding to the querist the 
doctrine of redemption, and exhorts him to repentance and 
faith. But the latter, as if he had not heard a single syllable 
the preacher was saying, interrupted him, and with increasing 
warmth repeats the anxious exclamation — ' If it is the truth 
dear sir, I pray you what shall we do V Terrified, the preacher 
staggers back. ^ JVe,' he thinks — 'what means this wc?' and 
striving to conceal the uneasiness arid confusion of his heart, he 
begins anew to explain and exhort. Tears started to the eyes 
of the visitor, and clasping his hands like one in despair, he ex- 
claims with a voice that might have moved the very stones — 
'Dear sir, if it is the truth, then we are lost!' The preacher 
stands pale and trembling, and his speech fails him. He casts 
his eyes to the ground, and then embracing his visitor, amid 
sobs, he says,' ' My friend, down into the dust, and let us pray 
and wrestle !' They bend their knees, they pray, they embrace 




THE TEMPTATION Of JESUJ 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 



449 



each other, and the stranger departs. The preacher locks him- 
self up in his chamber, and on the Sabbath following he is in- 
disposed, and unable to appear in the pulpit. The next Sab- 
bath is the same. On the third he appears before the congre- 
gation, grief-worn and pale, yet with Jooks of joy, and com- 
mences his sermon with the affecting declaration that it was 
only now that he also had made his way through the narrow 
gate !" 

Why did Nicodemus come by night to Jesus 1 No doubt he 
had that strange mingling of fear and shame which is often seen 
in awakened sinners. Why that unwillingness on the part of 
the convicted sinner to have it known that he is anxious about 
his soul 1 Why that desire to conceal from father, mother, and 
dearest earthly friends, that an arrow from God's quiver has 
been lodged in his heart } Persons have told me that they have 
come again and again to my gate, and even have had their hand 
upon my door, to speak to me about their souls, and yet have 
shrunk away in the dark, ashamed to come in. Ah ! this is our 
depravity. A man is not ashamed to speak about the disease 
of his body, but he is about that of his soul. A man is not 
ashamed to be seen weeping over his dead child, but he is over 
his dead soul ! He is not ashamed to be found eating, but he 
is ashamed to be found praying. Oh ! how disgraceful ! Shame 
is a passion that w^as designed to be as a kind of sentinel to the 
soul, to warn it of the approach of sin ; but what a fearful per- 
version of this power, when men glory in what is wrong and are 
ashamed of the right! — a plain proof that the whole man 
has become depraved by sin, and that until his conversion it 
controls his whole being, as one observes, just as the helm of 
the ship controls every plank, and beam, and bolt, and sail 
about her. 

One wise thing Nicodemus did ; he went directly to Jesus 
himself. He- did not go, in his deep spiritual anguish, to the 
traditions of the Jews, to the ceremonies of the law, to the 
books of the learned, nor to the philosophy of the deep think- 
ers of the age. These could have done him no good. What 
be needed was not a creed in his head, but a living Christ in 



45© THE WORLD S HOPE. 

his heart. It was not a religion that he wanted, but the truth — 
not a great deal of knowledge about God, but God himself. 
The Jews professed a great respect for the Sacred Writings^ 
and would have resented with the deepest indignation any im- 
putation ctist upon them; and yet at the very time they were 
rejecting, with proud disdain, the very Christ of whom these 
Scriptures were full, and to whom the whole order of their tem- 
ple service pointed ; — a plain proof that a man may have a great 
deal of theology and no Christ. 

Happy is the soul that has learned to say concerning Christ, 
" Lord, to whom can we go but unto thee V And yet it is 
about the last thing that we fmd out, that we have no other title 
to Christ but our utter ruin, and that every step we take to im- 
prove ourselves is a step in the wrong directioli. What we need 
is not self-reformation, not the mending and patching up of an 
old life, but a new life altogether ; and that life is only to be 
found in Christ. 

NICODEMUS ASTONISHED. 

The very first statement of truth that fell from the lips of the 
Saviour startled and astonished Nicodemus. He came to Jesus 
impressed with the divinity of his mission, and awed by the glory 
and grandeur of his miracles ; and yet the first statement this 
"teacher come from God" makes confounds and bewilders 
him, and causes him to exclaim, " How can these things be V 
This is the first effect of gospel truth upon the natural man, the 
•whole world over. No matter how distinguished he may be for 
the vigor of his intellect or the plenitude and variety of his 
knowledge, the things of the Spirit are foolishness to the nat- 
ural man. 

When a celebrated geologist was engaged in collecting speci- 
mens, the people of the country watched him as he went from 
rock to rock, from cave to cave, and from hill to valley, carry- 
ing his heavy bag of stones upon his back, and they set him 
down as an escaped lunatic. But that estimate of him arose 
not from his madness, but from their ignorance. He had gone 
down to depths and up to heights of knowledge of which they 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 45 1 

could form no conception. When Paul was pouring out the 
fullness of Christian truth, and the richness of his own personal 
experience of that truth, a shrewd, intelligent man of the world 
said, " Paul, thou art beside thyself." And so only that man 
whcr has been taught of the Spirit will understand the first les- 
son in the school of Christ. 

Man is so constituted that he must and will worship some- 
thing. He is as much a worshiping being as he is a breathing 
or an eating being. Hence he is not opposed to religion, but it 
must be a religion suited to his own proud and corrupt nature. 
Of man's religion man himself is the centre. It is what he has 
done, is doing, or expects to do, that froms the chief ground of 
his hope. Of God's religion Christ is the centre, and it is what 
he has done and is doing that forms the ground of the only hope 
which God will recognize as genuine. There is only one true 
religion in the world, and only one way of being saved. That 
way Jesus began to unfold to Nicodemus, and it startled him. 
It smote right across all his preconceived notions. 

According to man's religion there are many ways of being 
saved. One says, " If I am only sincere, God will accept me." 
Another says, " If I am only diligent in my religious duties, and 
do the best I can, God will expect no more." While another 
says, " It matters not what a man believes, if his conduct only 
be right," by which he means a regard to morality and the out- 
ward decencies of life. But there is one thing about which 
they all agree, and that is, that man is not so utterly ruined and 
lost as to require a new nature altogether. Man's theory is, 
that there is good in his nature — it may be lying in a state of 
dormancy, and only require to be cultivated and developed. 
Hence he thinks that when he gets ready he has only to set 
about a process of Bible-reading, praying, fasting, cherishing sol- 
emn feelings, and living a good life, and he will be ready for 
heaven. As all this process, however, is quite distasteful to his 
heart, he puts it off as long as he thinks he safely can ; and in- 
deed he would not set about it at all, were he not goaded on by 
the fear of being lost. He is like t"he sick man, who swallows 
his nauseous medicine only because he is afraid of death. 



452 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Now, against this whole theory Jesus set his face like flint. 
He taught that it was not the mending and cultivating of the 
old heart, but an entirely new nature that was required. It was 
this that alarmed this Jewish teacher, and did such violence to 
all his former notions of religion. Without holiness no man 
can enter heaven, and by nature there is not one spark of holi- 
ness in man. His heart is enmity against God, and there is 
therefore nothing within him that is good to be cultivated. You 
may cultivate a weed ever so much, but you can never cultivate 
it into the lovely garden flower. You may polish brass ever so 
long, but you can never polish it into gold. You may chisel a 
rough block of marble into the perfect likeness of the human 
body, but you can not put life into it. 

In like manner you may put the human being through all the 
process of refinement and elevation known to this enlightened 
age, but the result will not be holiness of heart. You may edu- 
cate him to the highest point of intellectual polish. You may 
pass him through the highest circles of what is called good soci- 
ety, and make him a perfect model of the etiquette and refine- 
ment of which such society is proud. The church may take hold 
of him, and instruct him, and confirm him, and baptize him, and 
give him a place at her communion, and even place him in a 
high position among her office-bearers — she may put the phrase- 
ology of religion in his lips and the soundest orthodoxy in his 
head, but she cannot give him a new heart; and let this model 
man, as the world might call him, go up to the gates of heaven, 
and you see him recoil with horror, as the voice from the ex- 
cellent glory thunders in his ears, "Ye must be born again!" 

It is hard for a sinner to take in the extent of his utter ruin. 
"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself." He is willing to ac- 
knowledge that sin is a very evil thing, and that his sins have 
done him great injury ; but still he insists that by diligence on 
his part that injury can be repaired. Oh, how it alarms him 
when he receives the divine statement that he is " dead in tres- 
passes and sins !" As when a man falls down suddenly in a fit, 
and a physician is called in, who, after a brief examination, ex- 
claims, " He is dead !" and the terror-stricken friends cry, " Oh, 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 



453 



doctor, do not say so !" But it is true, and the assertion of the 
whole world that he is not dead would not prove him alive. 
The sinner is like a man who has been long sick, and when he 
looks in the mirror he does not know himself. God holds up 
the faithful mirror of his word before the eyes of the sinner, and 
he looks so bad that he starts back unable to recognize himself. 
The book of God describes man as lost by sin. " Adam, 
where art thou .'" He was lost ! Jesus came to seek and save 
the lost — the lost piece of silver — the lost sheep — the lost prod- 
igal — a lost world ! Left to ourselves the loss would be eternal. 

The moment a sinner becomes convinced that his case is 
really so desperate, and that he must have a new nature or a 
new life, his first impulse is to set about working to effect it by 
outward changes. This is natural. Let a man fall into the 
water, and although he knows that he cannot swim nor save him- 
self, he will instinctively begin to struggle desperately. A minister 
lately found a man under deep conviction of sin, and in a dying 
condition. When asked what was his trust for the future, he said 
he was praying to God to forgive his sins. His visitor told him 
that he was afraid he was falling into the mistake of thousands 
— that of putting prayer in the place of Christ, and trusting in 
his prayers rather than in the blood of Jesus. He was told that 
Jesus had finished the whole work of our salvation for us, and 
that it is by faith in what He has done, and not by pur prayers 
and good works, that we are saved. He was told that God 
proclaimed to him a free pardon — not for his prayers, but for 
the sake of the shed blood of Christ, and that prayers uttered 
with the greatest earnestness for a lifetime could not save him. 
The old man raised his head from his pillow, and exclaimed, 
" Oh, I see it now ! I was in error. / was on the wrong track r 

Reader, if you have been thinking that by anything you can 
do, you make yourself more acceptable to God — if you have 
been waiting to get a new heart first, and then to come to Jesus, 
let me affectionately warn you that you are on the wrong track. 
Your thoughts and God's, your ways and God's ways, come in 
direct collision. God must kno^v best what will save a soul and 
satisfy the claims: of his law, and he has declared that " he that 



454 , I'HE WORLD S HOPE. 

believeth in the Son of God hath life." He assures us that with 
the death of his Son in our stead he is entirely satisfied ; and 
surely there is no use in our attempting to be satisfied with 
any thing that will not satisfy the God with whom we have to 
do. Surely we should be pleased with what pleases the eternal 
justice of Jehovah. 

Oh, sinner! let me impress upon you the great truth that you 
cannot get a new heart^ — a new life, but by faith in Jesus ! " I am 
come that ye might have life^ and that ye might have it abundant- 
ly." The moment that the soul believes in Jesus, it springs into 
a new life — the life of God — a life as eternal as God himself. 
Though living cold and dead in the valley of sin, for many long, 
melancholy years of rebellion, the moment the sinner hears 
Christ's voice he springs up, with a new life gushing through his 
heart, and throbbing through every power of his nature. 

Many preach the necessity of the new birth, but do not preach 
along with it the doctrine of the Cross, by which alone the great 
change can be produced. Thus the hearer is either repelled 
into indifference by the dark mysferiousness of what he can 
never hope to understand, or he is driven in upon an examina- 
tion of his own mental state, to watch for some symptoms of the 
great change. Thus the attention of the man is turned upon 
himself, rather than upon Christ. Our Lord did not content 
himself with preaching the new birth to this inquirer, but pro- 
ceeded to fix his mind upon the great truth that could alone 
produce the change, and all teachers that take him for their 
model do the same. This is true of all who have been emi- 
nently useful in the conversion of souls. 

When Dr. Judson was home on a visit, he for a few moments 
addressed a large meeting, his theme being the preciousness of 
Christ, and then sat down, deeply affected. On his way home 
a friend said to him, " The people are very much disappointed ; 
they wonder you did not talk of something else.'' "What did 
they want.?" said the missionary. " I presented, to the best of 
my ability, the most interesting subject in the world." " But," 
said his friend, "they wanted something different — a story." 
"Well," said Judson, " I am sure I gave them a story — the most 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 455 

interesting one that can be conceived of." "But," said his 
friend, " they have heard it before. They wanted something 
new from a man who had just come from the antipodes." Now, 
my brethren in the ministry, mark the reply of this great man : 
" Then I am glad they have it to say that a man coming from 
the antipodes had nothing better to tell them than the wondrous 
story of the dying love of Jesus. ' My business is to preach the 
gospel of Christ; and when I speak at all, I dare not trifle with 
my commission. When I looked upon those people to-day, and 
remembered where I should meet them, how could I stand up 
and furnish food to vain curiosity — tickle their fancy with amus- 
ing stories, however decently strung together on a thread of re~ 
ligion ? This is not what Christ meant by preaching the gospel- 
And then, how could I hereafter meet the fearful charge : * I gave 
you one opportunity to tell them of me ; you spent it in describ- 
ing your own adventures !' " 

VARIETY OF THE SPIRIT's WORK. 

The work of the Holy Spirit is to make the sinner feel his 
utterly lost and undone condition. To knock from under him 
his false props ; to make him feel that sin is not his misfortune^ 
but h\s guilt J and to convince him that he is adding a thousand 
fold to his past sins by his present rejection of Christ — this is 
the Spirit's gracious work. Dr. Bonar mentions the case of a 
man who by the most persevering efforts had tried to make 
himself better. He doubled the amount of his devotions ; he 
set up family worship ; he engaged in the performance of many 
good works, saying, "Surely God will give me peace now!" 
But peace came not. At last he thought of having a prayer- 
meeting in his house, as a remedy that could not fail. He 
wrote out a prayer and committed it to memory on the day of 
meeting ; and after he had finished committing it, he threw it 
down on the table, saying, " Surely that will do ; God will give 
me peace now!" Just at that moment the words were flashed 
through his mind — no doubt sent by the Holy Spirit — " No, 
that will 7iot do; but Christ will do." Instantly his whole soul 
was flooded with peace and joy, and for the remainder of his 
life his watchword was, " Christ will do." 



456 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



In answer to the astonished looks and words of Nicodemus, 
our Lord said, " Marvel not that I say unto thee, ye must be 
born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hear- 
est the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or 
whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Now 
these words have generally been quoted as if they were intended 
to teach us how mysterious a thing conversion is; whereas, 
they teach, when properly understood, the very opposite. They 
teach how simple the operations of the Spirit are in the salva- 
tion of the soul. The Saviour knew that there is a strong dis- 
position in awakened souls to make the whole matter of conver- 
sion mysterious and complicated ; and surely he did not mean 
to encourage this, but rather to counteract it. A very eminent 
minister of the gospel once said, " One of our great troubles, 
as ministers, is to keep people from wishing to be awfully con- 
verted." 

The sinner has a certain process in his mind, which he ex- 
pects must be gone through, if he is ever to be soundly converted. 
Deep and pungent convictions of sin, that for days and weeks 
are to shake him over the brink of despair ; floods of peniten- 
tial tears, and wild and passionate cries for mercy ; all to be 
succeeded by a sudden light, if not by an audible voice, tell- 
ing him that his sins are now forgiven, and filling his soul with 
a joy that can only find expression in shouts of gladness. This 
is his programme, and he waits for it being fully carried out. 
Now, that many thousands have been converted who have had 
all these convictions and joys, is no doubt true ; but when a 
certain standard of feeling is set up, and none are supposed to 
be converted who have not met that, a very dangerous error is 
introduced, over which many souls stumble into hell. This 
error our Lord meets by the figure of the wind, teaching us the 
variety of the Spirit's operations. 

"The wind bloweth where it listeth." Sometimes it blows 
very gently, making sweet music as it sighs through summer 
bowers, carrying on its wings the fragrance of the garden, and 
passing through the open windows of the sick room, gently fans 
the sufferer's fevered brow ; at other times it howls with the 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 457 

fierce voice of the hurricane, lashes the ocean into mountain 
billows, and sweeps desolation over a whole continent. At one 
time it blows pleasantly, wafting away the infectious vapors that 
linger around cities and camps ; while at other times it breaks 
forth in alarming fury, awakening the fears of a nation, and en- 
gulphing in the great deep a whole navy, on which the hopes of 
that nation were suspended. 

In like manner the teachings of the Spirit are marked by a great 
variety. Sometimes by the still, small voice of love he allures 
the soul away from the world by the tenderest persuasions, and 
the heart of a Lydia gently opens to receive the Lord Jesus J 
while at other times he makes the terrible thunders of Sinai to 
roll over the sinner's head, the lightnings of Jehovah's vengeance 
to flash around his soul ; and while the terrors of the Lord 
shake his whole being as with earthquake power, a Bunyan or a 
Newton is subdued to the Lord. Sometimes, by startling and 
alarming providences, the Spirit awakens the soul, " even as the 
eagle stirreth up her nest;" while at other times the, heart 
is touched by some rich blessing, or melted by some gracious 
deliverance ; and thus " the goodness of God leadeth to repent- 
ance," and "as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings," the 
soul is folded under the protection of Christ. 

The Saviour would teach us that there is often great power 
where there is little noise and excitement. The silent light that 
quietly steals over the face of nature, bathing everything iri its owji 
glory, is a far mightier agent than the bellowing thunder or the 
mighty earthquake ; and so, under the mild and gentle teachings 
of the Spirit, the kingdom of God, " that cometh not by obser- 
vation," is set up in the hearts of many. As the soldier lies 
wounded on the battle-field, his life ebbing away, gazing up at 
the silent stars through the long night, when it seems as if the 
wheels of nature had forgot to move, and as if morning would 
never come, the Spirit leads him to think of truths learned at 
the Sabbath School, years ago, or of a mother's prayers or a 
father's counsels ; and there, amid war's deadly alarms, he casts 
himself upon Christ's finished work. 

As the young mother takes her last look of her first-born 



458 THE world's hope. 

lying in its little coffin, and imprints her last kiss on its cold 
brow, the Spirit gently brings her to feel the vanity of the world, 
and leads her to that Saviour who alone can fit her for meeting 
her loved one in heaven. As the careless sailor treads the deck 
of his vessel in the lonely midnight watch, gentle as the breeze 
that sighs through the shrouds above his head, or causes the 
soft ripple of the waters beneath his feet, comes the Spirit with 
holy thoughts of home and its pious scenes. His sins become 
hateful to him, his neglected Bible is sought out and read, and 
lips that so lately burned with blasphemies begin to pray. That 
prodigal youth who fled from the kind home that so long had 
sheltered him, and from the warm hearts that so long had loved 
him, finds himself in a strange city, desolate and alone. In the 
teeming crowds that rush past him every face is strange, and 
none cares whether he sinks or swims. Sick in body and in 
mind, he goes to his lonely room, and the Holy Spirit gathers 
up the memories of the past, and gently as oil sliding over pol- 
ished marble, sends them flowing through his soul. That sainted 
mother, whose gray hairs he brought in sorrow to the grave, be- 
ing dead yet speaks to him. That venerable pastor, though 
long in his grave, never spoke to him so eloquently as now. 
The seed sown years ago, by hands long stiff in death, is now 
coming'up, and the bread cast upon the waters is being found. 
Thus many can say with David, " Thy gentleness has made me 
great." The gentle gales of heaven have wafted them into a 
safe port, and brought them into a position, before the greatness 
of which all earthly honors sink into insignificance. 

Sinner, is not this solemn work ? You may have been accus- 
tomed to think of God as working outside of you, in his mighty 
works ; but here you are led to see God working witJiin you, 
through the thinking of your own mind and the emotions of 
your own heart. Without working any miracle, doing no vio- 
lence to any part of your nature, interfering not in the slightest 
with your free-will agency, the Spirit, nevertheless, leads you 
to reflect upon your eternal state. Oh ! how near God has come to 
you ! Have you welcomed the heavenly guest, or have you insult- 
ed him } Have you said, " Come in, my Lord — come in," or have 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 459 

you shut the door in his face ? Let the Spirit leave you to the 
tendencies of your own heart, and the black darkness of an 
eternal night, which no star of hope can ever gladden, will wrap 
you up in its funereal pall. Oh ! with all the earnestness of love, 
I entreat you to beware ! 

I have spoken of the different means which the Spirit em- 
ploys, and of the great variety of his modes of teaching; but 
let it be remembered that the object to which he leads is ever the 
same. It is the unchanging Saviour. The question is not, then, 
how were you led to see yourself a lost sinner, nor how intense 
have been your convictions, nor how long were you in a state 
of alarm about your soul, but are you in Christ now 1 It is not 
can you fix the day or the hour when you were converted, but 
are you now a believer 1 

The great work of the Spirit is to lead to Jesus, and where 
this has not been done, the Spirit is still resisted and grieved. 
And it is to a living, loving Christ that he seeks to lead us ; not 
to a mere theory — not to a bare abstract doctrine, but to an 
ever-present, personal Saviour. On this point an eloquent wri- 
ter says : " The prerogative of our Christian faith — the secret 
of its strength is, that all which it has, and all which it offers, is 
laid up in 2, person. This is what has made it strong when so 
much else has proved weak, that it has a Cross in its middle 
point; that it has not a circumference without a centre; that it 
has not merely a deliverance but a Deliverer — not a redemption 
only, but a Redeemer as well. Oh ! how great the difference 
between submitting to a complex of rules, and casting our- 
selves upon a beating heart — between accepting a system, and 
cleaving to a person !" 

Another has said : " We must learn from Scripture to feel that 
the centre of the universe is one living person — God and Man, 
not a dogma or a Pope." 

Dear reader, to that one living Christ the Holy Spirit has long 
been seeking to lead you. I might enumerate a great many 
obstacles in the way of your yielding to his sacred influence, 
but all have their root in one — that is, unbelief. You have 
grieved the Spirit by ten thousand sins, but this is the one dark 



460 THE world's hope. 

source from which they have all sprung. That must be abaridoned 
before you can know safety. Unless given up, it will prove the 
murderer of your soul. The Spirit seeks to lead you to Jesus 
— not merely as a friend, as a benefactor, as a teacher, as an ex- 
ample ; but, first of all, he seeks to lead you to Christ as a sub- 
stitute. As an old writer says : " Oh ! unutterable exchange ! 
The Sinless One is condemned, the guilty goes ifree ; the Blessed 
bears the curse, the curse bears the blessing ; the Life dies, and 
the dead live ; the Glory is covered with shame, and the shame 
is covered with glory !" 

ASSURANCE OF SALVATION. 

Never does the gospel laborer feel his own helplessness more 
than when trying to lead an inquiring soul to Christ. He goes 
on to present the richest promises and the clearest exhibition of 
the plan of salvation. Over and over again he presents to the 
man before him truths so plain and simple to his own mind that 
he feels that they cannot fail to be at once understood ; but to 
his great grief, his best efforts are met with some such remark as 
that made by Nicodemus — " How can these things be ?" 

In such cases we feel much disappointed. We have present- 
ed such clear and striking arguments, our illustrations have 
been so plain and appropriate, we have been so earnest in our 
desires to save a soul from death, that when we utterly fail there 
mingles with our sorrow for the sinner some measure of personal 
mortification. We forget that in regard to purely spiritual 
things the carnal mind is dark as perdition itself, and that its 
illumination is not by the might or the power of man, but by 
the Spirit of God. The young Christi3,n often meets with much 
disappointment in his first efforts to do good, arising from his 
overlooking this fact. When the truth as it is in Jesus, in its 
full splendor, first breaks upon his view, it appears to himself 
so plain, so simple in its terms, so easy to be understood, that 
he thinks he has only to go and present it to his unconverted 
friends, and at once they will gladly receive it ; but he soon re- 
turns, deeply discouraged, and feeling that " Old Adam is too 
strong for young 'Melancthon." 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 461 

Dr. Guthrie says : " We can imagine few sadder sights than 
an entire family, parents and children, all blind. A home where 
the 'flowers have no beauty, the night no stars, the morning no 
blushing dawn — a home where they have never looked in each 
other's faces ; a blind father sitting with a blind boy on his 
knee, and a blind mother pressing to her bosom a sightless babe !" 
Now let us suppose that one member of such a family were sud- 
denly to become possessed of the power of sight, and that he 
begins to describe, in the most vivid manner, the new wonders 
that have just broken upon his view, — how very little of his de- 
scriptions could the rest of the family comprehend.? They 
must see for themselves to be able to take in his full meaning. 

Religion is not a thing of creeds, and theories, and notions, 
and theological systems ; if it were, the natural man might un- 
derstand it, as he does any worldly thing, by the investigations 
of his own mind ; but it is, in its practical saving energy, a thing 
wholly from God — a personal experience of God's renewing 
power upon the soul, and none but those who have passed 
through this divine change are competent to give an opinion 
upon the subject. Hence, I had rather listen to the most igno- 
rant converted man, speaking upon religious matters, than to 
the most learned man who is out of Christ. The learned man 
may speak theologically rights but he is sure to be spiritually 
wrong J whereas, " the secret of the Lord is with them that fear 
him." Hence it is that men very ignorant in general knowl- 
edge have been so extensively useful in the salvation of souls — 
not, however, by their ignorance, but in spite of it ; for when a 
man does good, it must be by what he knows^ not by what he 
does not know. These men, though destitute of the learning of 
the schools, were deeply learned in the things of the Spirit, and 
could adopt our Lord's words to Nicodemus — "We speak that 
we do know, and testify that we have seen." 

Let this thought deeply impress those of us who are engaged 
in laboring for souls, whether as ministers or Sabbath School 
teachers. We ought to spare no pains to get every qualification 
of the head, but let us be specially solicitous about the state of 
the heart. All the world over it is the heart only that can 



462 THE world's hope 

speak to the heart. To make others feel the power of the gos- 
pel, we must not only be intellectually convinced of its truth, 
but it must come to us in the " demonstration of the Spirit," 
and in "much assurance." There must be no doubting, no 
half-heartedness, no hesitation, but a full walking in the light of 
God, on the part of him who would lead souls to Christ. The 
sight of the perishing must move our souls to deepest tender- 
ness, and then we will speak the truth in love — a love that will 
breathe in our words, look from our eyes, beam in our faces, 
and break down the opposition of the gainsayer. 

Said the Lord Jesus, " We speak that we do know, and testify 
that we have seen." Christianity is not a system of doubt and 
uncertainty, but one of confidence and assurance. A religion of 
self-righteousness must necessarily be one of fears and doubts. 
Its hopes being founded on something going to be done in the fu- 
ture, it cannot begin in faith and confidence, but expects to at- 
tain assurance gradually, as character becomes more developed 
into holiness. Thus the self-righteous man doubts and hopes 
by turns, according as his efforts at self-improvement make him 
think well or ill of himself. 

Faith in Christ's work, on the contrary, gives confidence to 
begin with, for it is founded on something already finished — the 
work of Christ. As long as the Christian keeps resting his con- 
fidence upon that, he. will have no doubts, no fears, for it is 
something already done, and unchangeable ; but if he keeps 
looking at self, he will have assurance one hour and doubt the 
next; he will be changeable as the veering winds. But if his 
faith rests securely on the eternal and unchangeable word of 
God concerning Christ, it is not possible for him to doubt his 
acceptance. 

Take one passage for example : " For by one offering He 
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10: 
14.) Now, to believe this is to lift the soul out of the region of 
doubt and uncertainty into confidence and assurance. But if 
our faith is made to rest upon our own feelings^ we will have 
doubts, and we ought to have them, for we are in a very doubt- 
ful condition. It is not faith in Christ, in that case, we are 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 463 

cherishing, but faith in ourselves — faith in our own state of 
mind. The more doubts a man has in such a case the better 
as they may save him from settUng down upon the delusions of 
a false hope. Said a good man : " If you want to be miserable, 
lookwithin. If you want to be distracted, look around. If you 
want to happy, look up to Christ." 

A short time ago we had an accont of the execution of ten 
rebels. There they stood under the dark shadow of death, the 
coffins in which their bloody bodies were to be laid in a row 
beside them. The executioners have raised their rifles and 
taken the deadly aim ; one word from the officer in authority^ 
and the work of death will be over ; but at that moment, we 
will suppose, a great and distinguished personage comes forward 
and offers to die in their stead. The Government accepts the 
offer, and soon an innocent victim lies cold and bloody in death 
— the substitute of the guilty. For his sake, on account of his 
work, the rebels can go free. The law has accepted the death" 
of the substitute for them, and has nothing against them. They 
are no longer under condemnation. 

But each man sits down upon his coffin, and begins to look 
within hitnself to find some good reason why he should go free. 
Sometimes they think they have found something, and then 
their countenances light up with joy; but it is only a fitful hope 
which soon disappears, and again they are wrapped in the 
gloom of doubt. Now, who does not see that the true ground 
of peace for these men is in what was done for them by their 
substitute, outside of themselves altogether.^ It is true that 
within their hearts there may be found love to the being that 
died for them, they may cherish a strong love and loyalty to the 
Government that accepted the substitute in their stead, and 
they may be determined for the future to be good and obedient 
citizens ; but they were not pardoned, they were not permitted 
to go free, because they possessed these feelings, but simply 
because one died in their stead. That is to be the true ground 
of their confidence, and not any thing in themselves. 

See, then, the vast difference between Christ's religion and 
all false systems. It places pardon of sin as a present blessingr 



464 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



now in possession. All false systems make it something in the 
future, to be obtained when the feelings and character of the 
sinner are in a state to deserve it. It founds peace upon some- 
thing already done^ they upon something going to be done. It 
builds the hope of the sinner upon something outside himself, 
they upon something within himself. It lifts the soul to God, 
to rejoice in his favor, and to live in the light of his smiles ; they 
turn the soal in upon its own guilty self, to wander about, seek- 
ing comfort and finding none, amidst the dark uncertainties of 
its own feelings. 

It is very evident that a religion of assurance, and not of 
doubt, was that which primitive Christians possessed. When 
persecution bared the sword and scattered the disciples abroad, 
they could each say, " We speak that we do know, and testify 
that we have seen." When thrust into gloomy dungeons, when 
dragged forth to bloody scaffolds, when wasting away in dens 
and caves of the earth, or when standing before tribunals of 
power, and under the angry glare of tyrants^ it was not a poor, 
pitiful, shivering, doubting religion that could have sustained 
them. No, such times required a religion of strong, sturdy, 
vigorous faith that could say, " / know in whom I have be- 
lieved." 

Death, in its most fearful forms, never caused them to waver 
in their confidence for a moment. Some were cast from the 
Tarpeian Rock, and drowned in the Tiber. Some were burned 
at the stake. Many were put to death by crucifixion. Others 
were cast into the Amphitheatre, to be torn into pieces by wild 
beasts. But amidst the darkest and bloodiest trials their watch- 
word was, " For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." " There 
is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." 

Dear reader, if you would be happy in time and safe in 
eternity — if you would be useful in the church, and a shining 
light in the world — if you would be saved from everlasting ruin, 
rest not in the darkness of unbelief. As the holy and devoted 
McCheyne says, " Your tears will not blot out sin. They do 
nothing but weep in hell, but that does not justify them. Your 
right views of the gospel will not justify you ; you must be 



'MA 



is* 





r 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 465 

covered with a spotless righteousness. Your change of heart 
and of life will not justify you ; it cannot cowtx past si7is, neither 
is it perfect. Your amended life is still fearfully sinful in God's 
sight, and yet nothing but perfect righteousness can stand be- 
fore him. Jesus offers you this perfect righteousness ; in him 
you may stand and hear God say, 'Thou art all fair my love.* ' 

A SAVING LOOK. 

Our Lord proceeded to illustrate the saving truth of the gos- 
pel by a fact in the Old Testament history, with which he knew 
Nicodemus was quite familiar: "As Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up ; 
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have 
eternal life." 

The people of Israel had been guilty of a great sin in mur- 
muring against God, and as a punishment fiery serpents were 
sent among them, the w>ound inflicted by which was death. As 
individuals we do not live in a world of retribution, but of pro- 
bation. But as nations do not exist as such in the eternal world, 
it follows that if they are to be punished for their sins at all, it 
must be in this life ; and hence, in every age God's judgments 
have been poured out upon nations for their sins, and removed 
again upon their repentance. When the people of Israel hum- 
bled themselves on account of their sins, God caused a serpent 
of brass to be set upon a pole ; " And it came to pass that if a 
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of 
brass he lived." 

This was God's remedy. It found the people in a suffering 
and dying condition, and wherever applied it wrought a perfect 
cure. 

Let us suppose that we see a heaven-appointed messenger set 
out among the tents of Israel, to announce the glad tidings. 
The first tent he enters he finds a man in a dying state. The 
poison of the serpent has found its way to the very citadel of 
life, and he must soon be beyond all hope. With eager haste 
he tells the good news to the dying man, and bids him look and 
live. But, to his utter astonishment, the dying man begins in 



466 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



feeble accents to tell him that he is at present too ill to be cured 
by this new remedy; that it could not be intended for persons 
so far gone as he is, and that he must wait till he is a little bet- 
ter before he can look and be cured. 

It is in vain that the messenger tells him that the remedy was 
specially intended to meet his case ; it is in vain that he plies 
him with the clearest arguments and the most earnest appeals ; 
he has to turn away with a burdened spirit, and leave the sufferer 
to perish in his unbelief 

Ah ! how like is this to the case of those who say they are 
too great sinners to come to Jesus just as they are, and that 
they must wait till they are better — till they have more sorrow 
for sin, more feeling and deeper convictions, before they believe 
in Jesus! 

But we will suppose that the messenger enters another tent. 
Here he meets a case the very opposite of the othei-. He finds 
a man who has been bitten by the serpent, and through whose 
veins the fatal poison is hastening on to accomplish the work 
of death. He delivers his message of love, but the sick man 
looks up with an incredulous smile upon his face, and says, " It 
is very true I have been bitten by the serpent, but my injury is 
only a mere trifle — a slight scratch, that will not amount to any- 
thing; and there is, therefore, no need of my applying the rem- 
edy you speak of It is in vain that he is told that his death is 
as certain from that little wound as if he were covered all over 
with wounds ; just as one bad link in a chain will let the proud 
ship at anchor go upon destruction as well as if every link were 
bad. But he will not hear — he will not regard, but proudly 
wraps himself up in his fancied security, saying, " Peace, peace, 
when there is no peace." And again the messenger turns away 
with tearful eyes, crying, "Who hath believed my report.^" 

Now, how like is this to the proud, self-righteous sinner, who 
foolishly speaks about not being so great a sinner as others. If 
a man is a sinner at all he cannot be saved without a Saviour. 
As one leak unstopped will sink the largest ship, so one sin un- 
pardoned will bar the door of heaven against the soul. Re- 
member that it was one sin that brought the curse of God upon 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 467 

our world ; and had there never been but one sin in the whole 
world, Calvary's bloody offering would have been required be- 
fore that one sin could be forgiven. 

Let us follow the messenger into another tent. Here he finds 
the family suffering from the bites of the serpents, but they 
are busy concocting a medicine of their own. They are very 
faithful in mixing the different ingredients, very sincere in the 
application of their own remedy, and have the strongest faith 
in its success. They laugh to scorn the heaven-sent message. 
Its very simplicity becomes the object of their bitterest con- 
tempt. " What ! saved by a look ! Who ever heard of such a 
thing ? What virtue can there be in gazing upon a piece of 
brass.? Let silly fanatics believe it if they please, but as for us, 
we mean to folloV the dictates of reason and the laws of nature." 
Thus they scorn the messenger away, and turning to their own 
nostrums, begin applying a plaster here and there to their smart- 
ing wounds. They pour the utmost dishonor upon God's rem- 
edy, and soon the yawning grave receives their putrid corpses. 

How like this is to a class that boast of human cures for sin's 
deep-seated disease ! They acknowledge that things in our 
world are fearfully wrong ; that there is somewhere a fearful dis- 
location. Every hill and valley echoes the groans of suffering 
humanity, and the heart is wrung with anguish because the poi- 
son of sin is at work at its very core ; and to meet the evil, 
forth spring a host of reformers, each with a cure of his own, 
each bitterly opposed to that of his neighbor reformer, and all 
only agreed in their scorn for God's remedy. " Educate the 
people!" shouts one : " let knowledge and general intelligence 
be spread abroad ; let the people be taught to think for them- 
selves, and all will be well." He, poor man, forgets that knowl- 
edge is a power for evil as well as for good, according to the 
direction it gets. Tennyson says, " Knowledge comes, but wis- 
dom lingers." A very gifted intellect, high among the angelic 
throng, became a devil ! and many a splendidly educated mind 
is now led captive at his will. 

Others see the regeneration of the world in temperance, in 
political equality, in obedience to physiological laws, or in ghost- 



468 THE world's hope. 

ly mutterings from the spirits of the dead ; but alas ! they all 
agree in turning away from that loving voice which, sounding 
clear and distinct over our troubled world, says, "Come unto me 
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." 
*' Look unto me and be ye saved." 

I lately entered a sick room, where a sufferer in great distress 
said to his attendant, " Turn me on the other side," but scarce- 
ly was it done when he wanted to be put into another position. 
Then he wished to be taken to another bed, and then to be 
taken back again where he was before. Ah ! it was not a 
change oi place that was required to give him ease, but a com- 
plete cure of his disease. And so poor, restless, distracted, sin- 
sick humanity seeks to get rest by turning to the other side, or 
by changing its bed, while it despises the perfect remedy which 
Jesus proposes — that is, the entire removal of the disease. " He 
saves his people from their si7is'' 

But we will suppose, further, that the messenger has gone in- 
to another tent, and after delivering his message, is told by the 
wounded, with an air of great seeming candor, that they have 
no faith in the remedy he proposes, but they are willing to 
give it a fair trial ; they will go out of the tent and look for a 
little at the brazen serpent, and then for a little at their own 
wounds, to see what effect is being produced ; the whole being 
the effect, not of faith in what God has said, but of a desire to 
experiment and speculate upon divine truth, and thus cast 
dishonor upon Jehovah's word. 

Such a man might go away unhealed, and report to others 
that he had tried the remedy, and that it had failed. But in 
this case the failure would arise from his using his own remedy^ 
not God's. This experimenting and speculating upon the word 
of God, instead of believing it, is one of the most insulting and 
dishonoring forms of unbelief. 

The cure of the dying was brought to them in the most simple 
form imaginable. It was not to send for a physician to make a 
long and minute statement of their case, to swallow some bitter 
medicine or to take some long and painful pilgrimage. No, — 
it was the simplest act that can be performed — only a look! 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 469 

The wounded man might have applied a thousand balsams, and 
herbs, and medicines, but all in vain ; he must be saved by a 
look of faith. He might have got down upon his knees, and with 
strong cries and tears implored God to heal him, but he would 
not have heard him ; for while he seemed by his prayers to be 
honoring God, he was really dishonoring him, by refusing to be 
saved in the way of his appointment. 

He might have gazed with deep feeling upon his wounds, and 
have shed many bitter tears of repentance over the sins that had 
brought this punishment upon him ; but his tears, and groans, 
and lamentation could not have saved him — he must do as God 
bids him. To all such, Moses would have said, " Infatuated 
men, look up to the serpent on the pole !" And to all who are 
seeking salvation the Saviour says, " Look unto me and be ye 
saved." 

The brazen serpent was lifted up for all who were bitten, 
" It shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he 
looketh upon it shall live." And our Lord said to Nicodemus. 
''That whosoever believeth should not perish." It was not a 
few of the wounded, the better class, or the worse class, but the 
whole of them that were invited to look and be saved. Their 
only qualification for looking was that they were wounded. In 
like manner Christ has " tasted death for every man." He is a 
propitiation for the sins of the whole world. Not one of these 
wounded Israelites could with truth have said, " There is no 
cure for me;" and in the great day of account no sinner will 
dare to say in the presence of the Judge, " No Saviour was pro- 
vided for me." 

The remedy which God provided was at once effectual. As 
soon as one looked he was cured. He did not need to go on for 
years, hoping for the best, and watching and waiting for symp- 
toms of improvement. At once he was made whole. So faith 
in Christ brings to the soul a present salvation. Oh ! look to 
him ! Believe and live ! A clear and earnest writer uses the 
following words : " It is needless for you to say, * I can find no 
rest, I am so terribly bad. I try to live better, but it is all the 
same. The more I try, the worse I am. I try to keep the comr 



470 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



mandments ; I attend the public ordinances of religion ; some- 
times hear as many as three sermons on the Lord's Day. I do 
all I can, but yet I have not got peace ; I am not happy — I do 
not know that my sins are forgiven.' Dear friend, all this is V.* 
You must look away from this poor miserable, guilty, hell-de- 
serving 'I* altogether. God says, 'I have found a ransom.' 
Has he found it in you or out of yow ? Has he said, * I have 
found ninety-nine parts of the ransom, and you must find the 
hundredth.?' Ah! no; he has found it all." 

god's great love. 

That passage of Scripture through which the Holy Spirit 
flashes the light of gospel truth upon the soul is ever remem- 
bered and repeated with pleasure. When pressed by worldly 
cares, amid the fiery darts of temptation, when becoming 
wrapped up in the dark folds of unbelief, and when the heart 
is ready to sink in despair, that text is remembered, and comes 
to the soul with all the power of a new revelation. The mind 
seems to take a new grasp of it, and " faith stands leaning on 
tAaf word." 

Perhaps there is no text in the Bible that has saved more 
souls, that is oftener quoted on earth, or more joyfully remem- 
bered in heaven, than our Lord's words to Nicodemus : " God 
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that 
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." These words contain a most blessed truth, and 
yet they must have sounded strange in the ears of the Jewish 
teacher. He would be willing to acknowledge that God created 
the whole world, that he governs and directs the affairs of 
the whole world, and that he will finally judge the whole world ; 
but to be told that He loved the world must have somewhat 
jarred upon his Jewish prejudices. Nicodemus had been ac- 
customed to regard the nation of the Jews, the descendants of 
Abraham, as the exclusive objects of God's love, and all the 
sinful, idolatrous world outside of that as the object of his 
hatred and wrath ; and now to be told that the love of God 
had gone forth in its impartial yearnings after the whole race, 
was to him a new doctrine. 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 



471 



And indeed it is so wondetfal, so glorious, and contains so 
much of God, that the unbelieving hearts of the children of men 
everywhere still find it hard to receive it. That God should 
love some very good men, who have loved and obeyed him 
through a long series of years, is only what might have been ex- 
pected ; but that he should love the whole world — the vile, the 
abandoned, the reckless — the swearing, drunken, blaspheming, 
God-dishonoring world — is apt to be regarded as too good news 
to be true. 

Now, that God hates sin with a perfect hatred is a great fun- 
damental truth. We can conceive of nothing more opposed to 
the nature of God than sin. There is no light but might be 
more dazzling, there is no darkness but might be more intense ; 
but God and sin are absolute antipodes. Had sin its own way, 
unchecked, it would tear God from his throne, and banish him 
from his own universe. But sin is man's bosom companion — 
almost the only thing he can call his own. He loves it in his 
heart, and rolls it as a sweet morsel under his tongue. How, 
then, can' God love the world, when this is the character of its 
inhabitants ? 

When it is said that God loves the sinner, this is not to be 
taken as an approval of his sins. Far from it. For example : 
Here is a holy woman, who has a guilty, vile, abandoned son, 
who is constantly going on in ways that fill her pure heart with 
loathing. Now, she hates his sins — his daily and hourly acts — 
with a perfect hatred ; and yet she loves the son, and follows 
him in his lowest degradation with her tears, her prayers, and 
her intensest longings for his good. We have a similar illustra- 
tion in the case of David and his son Absalom. That son had 
rebelled against his father — had gone forth at the head of a 
large army, to take possession of his father's throne, and even 
plotted against his father's honor and his life. But though Da- 
vid hated these acts of his son with a great hatred, he still loved 
the guilty son himself, as is abundantly proved by the wail of 
anguish which burst from his heart when he heard of his death : 
" O Absalom, my son ! my son ! -^vould God I had died for 
thee !" 



472 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

When God shows his love to the world, it is in a way that 
proves at once his great hatred to sin, and his great love to the 
sinner. Is there any love in the whole universe to correspond 
to that of the Father to his well-beloved son ? That Son always 
did what pleased the Father, and his love to him was infinite — 
a love vast, boundless, without a bottom, without a shore ; yet 
with thatsSon he consents to part, to save the souls of sinners! 
" God commendeth his love to us " by giving up his Son to die 
for the very sin we had cherished in our hearts. Oh ! herein is 
love ! — a boundless, fathomless abyss of love ! for God's love to 

us IS TO BE MEASURED BY HIS LOVE TO HIS SON. Such a height 

and depth, and length and breadth of love as was unfolded in 
Jehovah's gift of his Son the world has never seen before — can 
never see again. 

And yet man naturally doubts — calls in question that love. 
He can believe in other loves, confide in other hearts, lean on 
other arms. In short, he seems to take a malignant delight in 
raising mountain difficulties in the way of a love the truest, the 
best, the most tender and faithful that ever existed — a love that 
overlooks all distinctions, that overleaps all barriers, that ex 
tends beyond all sects and parties, and that shall fold in its 
everlasting arms millions of redeemed sinners, when the great 
pendulum of time shall stand still and the world's affairs shall be 
wound up. 

Had 'God done no more than part with his Son as a parent 
parts with a child, to go for a few months or years from home 
— even that would be wonderful. Had he given him up to suf- 
fer for angels, it would have been an amazing sacrifice; but to 
die for sinners, that were not craving such a boon, nor appreci- 
ating the greatness of such a gift — men and women whose every 
breath was sin, and whose every action was one of proud rebel- 
lion against God ; to die for them is an act of love so great that 
the mind finds relief from the burden of contemplation by ex- 
claiming with the apostle, " It passeth knowledge !" 

A friend of mine, writing from Scotland, mentions the follow- 
ing fact : A gentleman of his acquaintance had a little son that 
required to pass through a painful operation in order to save 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. ^ 473 

his life. The child naturally shrank from the operation, but 
said, "Father, I will submit to it if you will go ivith me and hold 
me." To this the father consented. It was a painful trial to 
his heart. In the centre of a large hall, surrounded by a crowd 
of spectators, the father and son took their places, and the op- 
eration began. The son bore the excruciating pain with amaz- 
ing patience and fortitude, till an exceedingly sensitive part of 
his frame was touched, when he looked up in his father's face, 
and in a choking voice cried, " Oh ! my father !" These words 
cut through the heart of the father worse than the knife through 
the quivering flesh of the child, and there were few dry eyes in 
the hall. 

So, who can describe the anguish of the Son of God when, 
bearing the terrible infliction of the curse of God due to our 
sins, he looked up into the heavens and cried, " Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me !" When, amid the quaking 
earth and the shrouded heavens, the sword of justice pierced 
the Saviour's heart, and he cried out, " My God ! my God ! why 
hast thou forsaken me ?" we see a still further display of God's 
amazing love ; and as we sit down at the Cross, beside the be- 
loved John and the pious Marys, and watch the whole scene to 
its close, we are compelled to say, " The love of Christ constrain- 
eth us." 

In the gift of his Son for sinners, God's love has been put 
forth to its utmost extent. This cannot be said of any other 
attribute of his nature. His wisdom could devise still greater 
displays of design and skill than those we see in his works. His 
power could build up countless worlds and systems, more glo- 
rious than any he has yet made. But when he gave his Son, his 
love poured out its richest gifts. No better gift was kept in re- 
serve for some future occasion. Hence, Jesus, in speaking of 
that love, could only say, " God so loved the world ; and, as an 
old writer says, " There is an eternity of meaning in that little 
word so.'' 

Dear reader, — is it not a solemn thought that if this love fails 
to melt your hard heart you are utterly lost, since God has 
no greater display of love to spread before you } Heaven's 



474 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



richest gift has been tried upon you, and has failed to brii^ 
forth any response of love and gratitude ; and now what must 
become of you ? No better means — no more melting story of 
love can ever be told you; and if this fails to change your 
heart, there remains nothing before you but " a fearful 'looking- 
for of judgment and fiery indignation, that will devour the ad- 
versary." 

Learn, then, how vital to your salvation is faith in Jesus. 
God's best gift has been given, the proclamation of that great 
love has reached your ears, the blessed Saviour has been set 
forth crucified for you ; but all will not avail you if you shut 
your heart up in unbelief against it. Remember that none arje 
lost under the gospel dispensation because they are sinners, 
but because they reject the only Saviour of sinners. There is 
now absolutely nothing between you and pardon but your own 
unbelief. Only believe, and this moment you are a saved soul. 

A little girl, when told of God's simple plan of salvation, spoke 
out the sentiments of many older persons : " Oh ! that cannot 
be the way ! If that were it, everybody would be saved. I can- 
not think that the way." She thought that to believe and live 
was too easy a way of being saved. Her mother replied, " Yes, 
my dear, you do not think it the way, others do not think it the 
way, and thus, easy as it is, thousands do not think it true, and 
are lost!" Thus men go on, putting their own fancies and no- 
tions in the place of the true and plain words of God. " Ye 
will not come unto me, that ye might have life." 

JUSTIFIED OR CONDEMNED. 

In our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus he gave utterance 
to no more striking sentiment than that in the eighteenth verse : 
" He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already." Here the present and the 
eternal state of the soul is made to turn upon faith in Jesus. If 
the greatest sinner only trusts in Jesus, that moment he is for- 
given. On the other hand, if he does not believe in Jesus, no 
matter what else he may do, he is under condemnation. That 
is a terrible word to every Christless sinner — "Condemned al- 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 475 

ready!" Such persons are apt to think that at least they will not 
be condemned till they die, or till the day of judgment ; and 
long before that solemn hour of death arrives, they hope to do 
so many good works, and produce such an entire change in their 
character, that they shall escape condemnation even then. But 
how should it startle such persons to read these words of our 
Lord — " Condemned already !" 

Reader, you may have visited the cell of some poor man con- 
demned to death by the laws of his country. The pallet of 
straw, the chains, the bolts, the darkness, the pallid face and 
anxious look of the condemned — all made a deep and sorrowful 
impression upon you. You looked upon a man condemned al- 
ready ! The day of execution might be a week, a month, or a 
year distant ; but in the eyes of the law he was already as a 
dead man — he was condemned. So, my dear reader, is it with 
you, if you have not yet believed in Jesus. God's law has con- 
demned you — his curse and wrath are now abiding upon you ; 
and although in mercy he delays the hour of execution, yet 
sooner or later you will drop into hell ! Unless you turn to Je- 
sus you are as sure of eternal banishment from God as if you 
were already in perdition. But all this dreadful state of things 
may be changed in one moment by simple faith in Jesus. Then 
for you there will be no condemnation. God will accept of his 
Son's death as a. ground upon which you can be forgiven and 
filled with unspeakable glory through all eternity. 

Perhaps I could not illustrate the nature of faith in Jesus bet- 
ter than by the following narrative, taken from the Afjierican 
Messenger : 

A pastor, weary and sad, was sitting in his study at the close 
of the Sabbath service, painfully putting to his heart the query 
of the prophet — " Who hath believed our report," etc., while the 
too-ready words would come answering back, " I have labored 
in vain ; I have spent my strength for naught and in vain." 

He was roused from his reverie by a hurried knock at the 
door, which was thrown open before he could reach it, and Ed- 
ward B , a youth of fifteen, entered the study. Pausing for 

no word of salutation or of welcome, he said abruptly and with 



476 THE world's hope. 

impassioned earnestness, " I have come to ask whai: I must do 
to be saved !" 

Startled by the suddenness of the visit and the agitation of 
his visitor, the pastor could only reply in the words of the apos- 
tle, '' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'' 

" Oh, I know that ! I believe in Christ, but wTiat am I to do 
to be saved.?" 

"Christ has fully satisfied divine justice," said the pastor. 
" What we have to do is to believe, to trust in him for salvation." 

" Oh, there must be something more than that," said Edward, 
impatiently. " I believe in Christ as the Son of God and the 
Saviour of men ; but I am not saved, nor do I see how my be- 
lieving in Christ can possibly save me." 

" Do you believe yourself to be a condemned sinner in the 
sight of God, Edward V 

" I do indeed ! I feel the wrath of God resting upon me, and 
I want to know how I can appease that wrath, that I may be 
forgiven." 

Edward's convictions of sin were so deep, and his desire for 
salvation so yearning, that his pastor believed that he had only 
to unfold to him the way of salvation through the atonement of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would accept it without the slight- 
est hesitation, and rejoice in a full and free pardon. 

" Your belief in Christ," he said, " is evidently nothing more 
than an intellectual assent to the fact that Christ came into the 
world to save sinners, whereas God claims the full consent of 
your heart to receive him as your personal Saviour, and until 
you do this you cannot in a saving sense believe in him. Your 
present anxiety arises from a consciou3ness of having violated 
God's law, which is holy, just and good, and you seek to be rec- 
onciled to the God whose law you have broken. The Scriptures 
assure us that ' Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth.' That is to say, by Christ's perfect 
obedience unto death, the atonement made by him is accepted 
of God, instead of the righteousness of the sinner, which the 
law of God demands. You can add nothing to Christ's work; 
it is finished — complete in all its parts. All that you have to 
do is only believed 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 477 

As he purposely laid a lingering emphasis on these last two 
words, he was pained to see the flush of pride mantle that youth- 
ful cheek, and the lip curl in scorn. 

^'' Only believe! — only believe T he exclaimed. "Do I under- 
stand you to tell me that I am to be saved without doing any- 
thing myself \\\2X will render me acceptable to God.''" 

The pastor now clearly saw that pride of heart was the obsta- 
cle keeping Edward from Christ, and resolved that he would 
press on him this point of simple faith, until he should see that 
it was the only door of entrance into the kingdom of heaven, 
and that he need cherish.no lingering hope of working out a 
righteousness of his own. 

After bowing their knees in prayer, the pastor looked anx- 
iously at the face of Edward, and was disappointed to read there 
only a stubborn rebellion and an unyielding pride. 

" Now, Edward," he said, "will you not receive this salvation 
as freely as God offers it.? Christ has paid the penalty of your 
sins, and only aski you to take the pardon he has purchased. 
Do you, my young friend, accept his grace V 

" No^ Sir /" answered Edward, with a fearful emphasis ; '* I 
cannot take pardon as a free gift. I am willing to purchase it 
by any sacrifice or any service but I can never humble myself 
to take it for nothing." 

" I am authorized to offer you no other terms," said the pas- 
tor, sadly. 

" I might then have saved myself the trouble of coming here 
in such a wild night as this!" exclaimed Edward, as he rushed 
from the study even more hurriedly than he had entered it. 

The following day, as the pastor and his wife were at their 
morning repast, a click of the latch drew their eyes towards 
the parsonage gate. Edward was there, and a glance was suffi- 
cient to reveal the wholly changed expression of his counte- 
nance. 

"Oh, sir!" he exclaimed, as he entered the room, "Christ is 
a glorious Saviour ! His salvation is a glorious salvation !" 

" With what have you purchased it, Edward V demanded the 
pastor. 



4^8 THE world's hope. 

" Oh, it is its freeness that is its glory ! I see it now. I was 
so full of rebellion against God's plan, and so angry at you for 
refusing to argue with me, and insisting on the ofily believe^ that 
for a long time after I left you I was in despair. I did not see 
how my sins could be forgiven. After hours of sleepless agony, 
finding no relief anywhere, my pride yielded, and I cried earn- 
estly, * God be merciful to me, a sinner !' At the same moment 
my heart gave its full consent to the truth I had so long resisted. 
Foolish boy that I was, to think I could purchase such a salva- 
tion by any poor services of my own !" 

" Surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with 
my God !" exclaimed the encouraged but humbled ambassador 
for Christ, as he entered his study, to resume his work for his 
Master. 

Thirty years of Christian fidelity have proved the genuineness 
of Edward's conversion, and to-day his most favorite hymn is : 

" Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in thee ; • 
In my hand no price I bring — 
Simply to thy Cross I'cling !" 

LOVING DARKNESS AND HATING LIGHT. 

Our blessed Lord concluded his instructions to Nicodemus 
by placing the blame of sin where it truly belongs. He showed, 
that Sin is not man's misfortune, but his guilt ; that he is not a 
sinner because of his circumstances, or his education, or his 
temperament, but from deliberate choice : " And this is the 
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved 
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For 
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to 
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." 

In the Scriptures a sinful state is very frequently represented 
as a dark state. Hence hell is represented as " the blackness 
of darkness," because it is all sin there. When sinners get 
themselves wrapped up in the darkness of sin, they hate the 
light of God's truth, even when professing to receive it as truth. 
They will admit the doctrine of their responsibility to God, and 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 479 

even wax eloquent in speaking of the greatness of that truth, 
and yet they will continue to live as if there were no God look- 
ing on. They will acknowledge the abominable nature of sin, 
and yet go on rolling it as a sweet morsel under their tongues. 
They will profess to believe in the name of Jesus, yet they are 
not saved from their sins; and while they profess to receive 
the doctrine of the atonement of Christ, yet they do not seek 
to depart from all iniquity. They say that God is the hearer 
of prayer, and yet they never bow the knee to him, and their 
homes are as destitute of a family alter as a family of Hotten- 
tots. 

Now this is what God calls "holding the truth in unrighteous- 
ness;" and when the full light of eternity shall fall upon such, 
they will be found standing in speechless horror, unable to 
frame a single excuse for themselves. They have known their 
master's will, but have not done it, and shall therefore be beaten 
with many stripes. To their state in the world of woe appHes 
the description of the poet : 

"And there came groans that ended not, and sighs 
That always sighed, and tears that ever wept 
And ever fell, but not in Mercy's sight ; 
And Sorrow and Repentance, and Despair 
Among them walked, and to their thirsty lips 
Presented frequent cups of burning gall. 
And as I listened I heard these beings curse 
Almighty God, and curse the Lamb, and curse 
The earth, the resurrection morn, and seek, 
And ever vainly seek, for utter death. 
And to their everlasting anguish still 
The thunders from above responding spoke 
These words, which, through the caverns of perdition 
Forlornly echoing, fell on every ear : 
* Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not .'' " 

Perhaps in nothing is the hatred of light which sinners feel 
more clearly seen than in the demon-like pleasure which they 
evince when a professor of Christianity falls into any gross sin. 
Let such an event occur anywhere in our midst, and there is 
not only a jubilee in hell, but shouts of joy among the children 



480 THE world's hope. 

of the devil on earth. They will eagerly gather around such a 
case like vultures around carrion, and greedily feast upon what 
to them is evidently a delightful repast. From the most po- 
lite and fashionable scenes of vice, away down to the lowest 
haunts of human pollution, the story will be taken up and re- 
peated, with a thousand exaggerations, to admiring and ap- 
plauding hearers. It is to them '' glad tidings of great joy," 
which they find no difficulty in believing on the most flimsy 
evidence, or on no evidence at all, though they profess their 
inability to believe the " glad tidings " that come from heaven, 
backed by the authority of the God of truth. 

And yet what does such a case of apostacy prove ? Not 
that religion is a bad thing, but that bad men like themselves, 
from corrupt motives, will sometimes profess it. Neither does 
it prove that the church is corrupt, for she instantly casts the 
offending member out of her midst. But this exultation over 
what causes good men the deepest sorrow, only proves the ha- 
tred of God and of all good which reigns in the carnal mind. 
They hate the light and love darkness. 

COMING TO THE LIGHT. 

" He that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may 
be made manifest that they are wrought in God." Here our 
Lord draws a beautiful picture of the man of God. While 
many are contented with only speaking about truth, or hearing 
about truth, or contending in a bitter, controversial spirit for 
truth, the child of God " doeth truth'' He is a living, walking, 
moving representation of the power of Christ's truth. His 
preaching of truth is the eloquence of a godly life and a pious 
conversation. Men may sneer at religion in the abstract, but 
they cannot sneer at his consistent life. The boldest wicked- 
ness is silent in his presence, and shrinks from the glance of his 
eye. He is one of those of whom Jesus says that he " is not 
ashamed to call them brethren." The mere professor, who 
makes a high-sounding declaration of his attachment to truth, 
but wounds it every day by his inconsistent life, Jesus is 
ashamed of; but in regard to the man who doeth truth, the 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 481 

Lord can point to him as a true, lovely representation of him- 
self. He can point to him as he did to Nathaniel, and say, " Be- 
hold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile !" 

The man who doeth truth follows his convictions of truth, 
wherever they may lead him. He does not stand on the verge 
of some important step to which truth is pressing him, and 
tremblingly ask "What will the people say.^" or "Will not my 
friends all desert me if I take this step .?" No ; with such a man 
to know his duty is to do it. He follows the right, and leaves 
consequences to take care of themselves, or rather leaves God 
to take care of them. If following the truth leads to poverty, 
to persecution, to a prison, or even to the scaffold, he will fol- 
low it. He knows that the God of truth is on his side, and will 
never forsake him, and that all his present apparent losses will 
be made to count great and infinite gain. 

It is men animated by such principles that have been the 
great benefactors of the world. The poor, miserable, truckling, 
time-serving race wait till great truths become popular, and then 
profess their wonderful attachment to them ; but men of God 
hurl into the wide, weltering mass of error around them the 
most unpopular truths ; and with such conduct your bowing, 
scraping, smirking, drawing-room dandies, who think it the very 
height of politeness to have no principles at all, are vastly of- 
fended. Bur these are the men to whom the world is indebted 
for its greatest reforms — men of a bold, daring, independent 
spirit, that, as one says, " is like electrical fire, that acquires 
force by resistance, and gathers increase of splendor from sur- 
rounding gloom." 

Dr. Ferguson says that the characteristics of the great man are 
— "that in spirit and intent he stands erect, speaks with a tongue 
of fire, expresses his inmost soul in his doings, lets go of self in 
pursuit of his chosen object, and is willing to lose everything for 
it." If this be correct, then there can be no true greatness where 
the principles that Jesus here describes are wanting. To fix the 
eye upon Jesus, and follow him whithersoever he goeth, regardless 
of all consequences, while his words ring in our ears and vi- 
brate through our hearts, urging us on to increased activity in 



482 THE world's hope. 

his service, is a truly noble sight. Such a man will be useful 
while he lives, and long after he dies, and his soul will be wel- 
comed into glory among the vast multiude of whom the world 
was not worthy. Such a man stands — 

Like some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm ; 
Around whose base while rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 

Our Lord says of the good man, that he comes to the light. 
He does not hate it, nor is he afraid of it. Why should he be ? 
He has nothing to conceal. If there is anything in his views or 
his conduct that is not right, he most earnestly wishes to know 
it. He is not afraid of close, pungent, faithful preaching. He 
lays his heart open to the light, and prays with David, " Search 
me and try me, O God, and see what wicked way there is in me." 
He does not turn away from that kind of preaching, and those 
passages of Scripture that make him condemn himself; on the 
contrary, he loves to be thus searched and sifted, that he may 
be preserved from self-deception. " Faithful are the wounds 01 
a friend." 

In prayer, both public and private, he places himself directly 
under the light of God. God is " the Father of Lights," and 
he invites us, under a consciousness of our ignorance and dark- 
ness, to go to him for wisdom and light. Prayer, then, is a most 
direct way of coming to the light, and all other ways will avail 
but little where this is neglected. Hence it is that the prayer- 
meeting is one of the most important means of grace tirat the 
church possesses. 

The pulpit may be filled by an eloquent and faithful minis- 
ter ; the pews may be filled with a respectable and an intelli- 
gent congregation ; the public worship may be conducted in a 
splendid house, and the financial affairs of the church may be 
in a flourishing state ; but if the prayer-meeting is not filled 
from week to week by a band of wrestling Jacobs, the church 
will be utterly powerless in accomplishing the great end of her 
existence — the glory of God in the conversion of sinners. 
Many a minister has labored for years, with a self-consuming 



LESSONS FROM THE GREAT TEACHER. 483 

zeal, and, worn out at last, has gone down to a premature 
grave without seeing much good accomplished, because he was 
not sustained by a praying people. 

"It is only a prayer-meeting!" is a remark which we often 
hear from the lips of professing Christians. Such persons will 
run from place to place to hear the eloquent sermon or the ex- 
citing lecture ; they will sit for hours amid the noise and wild 
excitement of the political meeting ; but the prayer-meeting — 
oh ! what a weariness of the flesh it is to them ! There they 
sit, with lifeless faces, their whole frame seemingly oppressed 
with an unsufferable languor; — they yawn and doze away 
the hour of prayer, and the last " Amen !" breaks upon their 
ears as a joyful sound. Oh ! what long centuries of spiritual 
desolation and death must pass over the world before it will be 
converted by such Christians ! 

A leading agent in the formation of one of our Missionary 
Societies was asked how it began. The reply was, " In prayer." 
"And how has it been sustained.?" " With prayer." "And 
what has most contributed to its prosperity?" "Prayer!" was 
still the reply. Now, the true Christian feels the truth of this, 
and hence prayer is his constant refuge. 

Would he see his minister become more spiritual, more faith- 
ful, and more successful in winning souls, he knows this can be 
accomplished — not by finding fault — not by seeking to alienate 
the minds of the brethren from the pastor — not by making in- 
vidious comparisons between him and others — 7iot by praying 
at him, as is sometimes done by those who make their pretend- 
ed prayers to God the channel through which to vent their per- 
sonal spleen, but by praying /<?r him as the Bible directs. 

Does he see the church of which he is a member prostrated 
by worldliness and formality, conversions few and far between, 
sinners becoming hardened under the preached word, and pro- 
fessors living as if time were eternity and eternity time, he 
knows that the remedy for this state of things is not to go 
about filling every ear with complaints about the church, but 
in believing prayer, for " times of refreshing from the presence 
of the Lord." 



484 THE world's hope. 

The richest boon that Heaven can bestow upon a soul on 
earth is the spirit of prayer. A man possessed of this spirit can 
never be poor, for he has everlasting riches for the asking. All 
things pertaining to life and godliness are within the call of his 
praying breath. The prayers that he offers to God are inspired 
by God, and therefore must be heard. "The spirit itself mak- 
eth intercession within us with groanings that cannot be utter- 
ed." Ah ! these are the prayers that reach heaven ! We often 
hear prayers offered mingled with groans that can be uttered, as 
mechanical and formal as a hand-organ grinding out a tune to 
which it has been set ; but the prayer which the spirit inspires 
always reaches heaven, and brings down blessings as imperish- 
able as the throne of God. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 
Luke 15. 

What a model for Christian ministers are the discourses of 
the Lord Jesus ! For faithfulness and point, for adaptedness to 
the state of those to whom they were addressed, for the fullness 
and beauty of their illustrations, for their clearness of thought 
and simplicity of style, for solemnity of manner and pungency 
of appeal, and for their holy unction and the power with which 
they grapple with the conscience and make the individual 
hearer feel that he is personally spoken to, these discourses 
should be studied again and again by all who would be success- 
ful in winning souls to God. 

In the present day there is great danger of the pulpit losing 
its power through worldly ambition. There is a disposition to 
put mere oratory and a flashy rhetoric, the displays of intel- 
lect and genius, in the place of the simplicity of gospel truth. 
There is a great desire, in certain quarters, for brilliant, talent- 
ed and learned sermons, chiefly by those who do not like to 
have their consciences touched by the power and point of 
God's naked truth. The power of the pulpit must ever consist 
in faithfully exhibiting God's truth in its holy simplicity, and in 
the burning words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing 
spiritual things with spiritual. Where this is wanting, though 
there may be seeming success for a time, the pulpit will lose 
its hold upon the hearts and consciences of the masses of the 
people. 

A very intelligent man said some time ago, " Oh ! that my 
pastor would give us something besides pretty flowers, and bril- 
liant periods, and intellectual treats ! My soul is famishing for 
the bread of life ! I long for something simple — nourishing — 
scriptural." That great statesman, Daniel Webster, uttered 

485 



486 THE world's hope. 

these words : " If clergymen in our day would return to the 
simplicity of gospel truth, and preach more to individuals 
and less to the crowd, there would not be so much complaint of 
the decline of true religion. Many of the ministers of the pres- 
ent day take their text from St. Paul, and preach from the news- 
papers. When they do so I prefer to enjoy my own thoughts 
rather than listen. I want my pastor to come to me in the spirit 
of the gospel, saying, ' You are mortal — your probation is brief 
— your work must be done speedily ; you are immortal, too — 
you are hastening to the bar of God — the Judge stands before 
the door.' " 

It was the glory of the Redeemer that he was the friend of 
sinners — that he came to seek and to save the lost. The proud, 
haughty, self-righteous Pharisees made this an objection against 
him, saying, " This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." 
From this objection, as a kind of a text, our Lord delivered the 
wonderful sermon contained in this chapter. In these beautiful 
parables — the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the pr(=»digal son — 
he brings out man's utterly lost condition, and God's great wil- 
lingness to save him. The blessed Saviour at once announced 
it as the very object of his coming into the world to save sin- 
ners. " He came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to re- 
pentance." It was announced — " His name shall be called Je- 
sus, for he shall save his people from their sins." So that it was 
his very office to save sinners ; and had he failed in this, it 
would have been the highest evidence that he was i>(?t the prom- 
ised Messiah. Hence, that which the Pharisees raade an ob- 
jection was his highest glory — a strong testimony and creden- 
tial that he was the sent of God. 

These Pharisees said that Jesus "receiveth sinners." That 
is true, but not the whole truth ; he does far more than that. 
To simply receive sinners is an act of great condescension and 
love ; but he goes after sinners, and urges and invites them to 
be saved. He came to seek as well as to save the lost. Thus 
he follows the lost sinner down the broad road to death, and 
cries, " Come unto me, and I will give you rest." " He that 
Cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." And when sinners 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS 487 

will not listen to his pleadings, and he sees them rushing on to 
their ruin, he cries, as one deeply grieved, "Ye will not come 
unto me, that ye might have life." " How often would I have 
gathered you together, even as a hen gathereth her brood under 
her wings, but ye would not !" 

In the beginning of the chapter it is said — " Then drew near 
unto him all the publicans and sinners, for to hear him." This 
was a most glorious spectacle ! The poor lost soul approach- 
ing its God, to hear of its condition and to learn its destiny ! — 
the trembling, despairing sinner drawing near to the holy, com- 
passionate Saviour, and drinking in salvation from his lips ! Oh ! 
this was indeed a blessed sight ! — a sight over which angels re- 
joiced; and yet there stood at a distance these Scribes and 
Pharisees, the leading professors of religion of the day, with 
scowling brows and flashing eyes, grumbling and finding fault 
at the sight. This was a melancholy spectacle. The professed 
ministers of religion fighting against religion in its purest forms. 
The disciples of Moses scowling upon him of whom Moses 
said, " Him shall ye hear in all things." The professed 
servants of God angry because sinners are returning to God. 
Oh ! to what strange inconsistencies will pride of heart lead 
men ! 

But God makes the wrath of man to praise him. This very 
murmuring of these proud and unreasonable men called out 
those parables from the lips of Jesus ; and thus from the selfish- 
ness and narrow-mindedness of these bigots God brings forth 
truths, and illustrations of truths, which have saved, and will 
yet save, thousands of souls. Why do the people rage against 
Jehovah, and set themselves in array against his plans ? As 
great heaps of chaff before the whirlwind, as stubble before the 
devouring flame, shall all opposition be before Him " who work- 
eth according to the counsel of his own will." 

Let us now call the attention of the reader to the three par- 
ables contained in this chapter. 

THE LOST SHEEP. 

The Lord Jesus did not fear to associate with the most aban- 
doned, and to go down to the very bottom of society, among its 



488 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

very dregs, in order to save the lost. In this respect he is an 
example for all gospel laborers. 

A lady, while passing along one of our public streets, in pull- 
ing off her glove pulled from her finger a very valuable jeweled 
ring, which, before she could secure it, rolled into the gutter. 
She stood hesitatingly on the brink of the filthy puddle for a 
few moments, as if considering what to do, when she bared her 
fair arm, and plunging her hand into the gutter secured her 
treasure. Ah ! there is the treasure of the precious soul lost in 
many a vile sink of human pollution, and to save it we must be 
willing to follow the Saviour's example, and to go to the vilest 
outcasts with the glad tidings of salvation. 

From the parable of the lost sheep we are impressed with the 
thought of the Saviour's deep personal interest in every sinner. 
One sheep went astray, and his careful shepherd missed even 
that one. The sinner, in his wanderings, is apt to think that 
Christ does not notice him ; that amid the vastness of the affairs 
of the universe which occupy the divine mind, he, if not over- 
looked, is but little attended to. But this is a dangerous mis- 
take. There is not a step which the sinner can take in his de- 
parture from God which the watchful eye of the shepherd does 
not follow ; and the loved child is not more surely missed from 
the affectionate family circle, than is every sinner who departs 
from the living God. Yes, sinner ; all the way through your 
downward progress — while resisting the Spirit — while hardening 
your heart against the invitations of mercy — while plunging in- 
to the most thoughtless and reckless course of sin, the pitying 
and yet rebuking eye of the Lord has been upon you. The 
heart of love that was pierced by the soldier's spear has yearned 
over you and longed for your return. 

The Shepherd is represented as going after the lost sheep. 
It would never be found unless he did. There are many of 
our domestic animals, that when lost, will find their own way 
back to their home ; but it is not so with the sheep. It, if lost 
in the wilderness, is hopelessly lost — it never finds its way back 
to the fold. And so it is with the sinner. No sinner, if left to 
himself, would ever come back to God. It is the very nature 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING 94NNERS. 489 

of sin to be progressive, to perpetuate itself, and, like a deadly- 
leprosy, to spread over the whole soul. Hence, if left alone, the 
sinner would go farther and farther from God. Sin makes the 
soul heavy as lead, and instead of rising to God and heaven, 
it sinks down to hell by its own weight. To insure the destruc- 
tion of the sinner God has no need to push him to destruction, 
but simply to let him alone. For God to let any sinner alone 
is a fearful calamity, for in that case the sinner will surely de- 
stroy himself. 

How glorious, then, the truth contained in the parable, that 
as soon as the sheep was discovered to be lost, the Shepherd 
went after it. As Dr. Gumming has beautifully said : " That 
glorious promise, sounding amid the wreck of paradise, was the 
first footfall of the Son of God coming after the lost sheep. 
Those prophecies spread through two thousand years — those 
calls, remonstrances and warnings, lifted up in the successive 
centuries of the past, were the voices of the Shepherd sounding 
in the wilderness after the lost sheep. Those types and sym- 
bols, and sacrifices and shadows — those ceremonies and institu- 
tions of the Mosaic dispensation, were the footprints upon the 
sands of time of the Great, the Good Shepherd, in his compas- 
sionate march from the throne of heaven to the Cross of Cal- 
vary, in order to retrieve and recover the lost sheep." 

But to bring this matter still closer home, — what efforts the 
Great Shepherd has made to save each of us personally ! Let 
me briefly describe the moral history of one person, and with 
the exception of a few details, it is a history that applies to tens 
of thousands in this highly favored land. This individual was 
blessed with pious parents. From his earliest remembrance he 
had knelt at his mother's knee and lisped out his infant prayer. 
When he arrived at years of responsibility his pious mother 
used to take him into her room, read the word of God with him, 
and, lifting up her voice to heaven, plead as if she could take 
no denial for the salvation of his soul. Thus was the Shepherd 
seeking this lost sheep through the instructions and the prayers 
of the faithful mother. 

But the time came when he must leave the paternal roof, and 



400 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

go forth into the world. The last night he spent at home was 
one never to be forgotcen. His room was separated from his 
mother's only by a thin partition, and when he retired to rest he 
heard her earnestly engaged in prayer. He slept and awoke, 
but still he could hear that voice of pleading earnestness, and 
he knew that the salvation of his soul was the chief burden of 
those midnight wrestlings. In the morning she followed up her 
prayers by the most affectionate and faithful counsels ; and as 
he waved his farewell from the top of the stage-coach which 
bore him away, the last sight he had of that mother she was 
standing with hands clasped and eyes upraised to heaven, breath- 
ing a prayer, he doubted not, for his salvation. Yet he left that 
pious home unsaved ; but oh ! what powerful influences had the 
Good Shepherd put forth for his good ! 

At first the restraints of his early training and sweet home in- 
fluences kept him from rushing into sin, like many young men 
around him ; but soon he began, cautiously at first, to join them 
in their sinful courses. He first dabbled around the edges of 
vice but soon madly plunged into its vortex. The theatre, the 
bar-room, the gambling-house became his nightly resort. His 
Bible was first neglected, then despised, then blasphemed. He 
first lived so as to be compelled to wish that the Bible were not 
true, and then by an easy transition he soon began to profess a 
belief that it was not true. This is the way that the great bulk 
of infidels are made. 

But low as he had sunk and far as he had wandered, the Good 
Shepherd did not yet give him up. God sent a fierce disease to 
arrest him in his thoughtless career. He was cast upon a bed 
of pain, a burning fever raged through his veins, and day and 
night he tossed to and fro upon his l^ed. He saw his friends 
moving about upon tip-toe, and speaking to each other in sup- 
pressed whispers, and he knew from their tearful looks that they 
considered his life in danger. Then all his sins gathered around 
him and called for his destruction like avenging demons. He 
was in despair. Hell seemed to enlarge itself to receive him. 
He pleaded with God to spare his life, and promised if he re- 
covered to live a Christian. 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS 



491 



Contrary to all expectations, he did recover. But he return- 
ed to his sins, like the dog to his vomit. He seemed, if pos- 
sible, to become more hardened and reckless than ever. He 
laughed at his former fears, and openly bo'asted of his infidelity. 
But even now the Lord would not give him up. His only child, 
a lovely little prattler, was taken sick. He bent over the cot 
of the loved one, and with a breaking heart watched the little 
sufferer step down into the cold flood. In spite of his fond at- 
tentions, and of a mother's burning tears, and all the medical 
skill that could be obtained, the idol of his soul lay stiff in 
death ; and as he saw it laid in the cold grave, and heard the 
earth fall dolefully upon the coffin lid, his whole soul surged un- 
der a tempest of passion against God and his providences. He 
felt ready to curse God and die. 

About this time the Lord poured out his Spirit in the neigh- 
borhood where he resided. It was a powerful work of grace, 
and converts were multiplied like the dew-drops of the morn- 
ing. Many of his infidel companions were converted, and be- 
gan faithfully to plead with him to be reconciled to God. At 
last his wife, who had heretofore been as gay and careless as 
himself, was brought to a knowledge of the truth, and now her 
tears and entreaties and prayers were joined to those of his 
pious mother for his soul's salvation. 

But it was all of no avail. It seemed that the nearer the 
Shepherd came to him to save him, the stronger became his 
enmity to God and all good. He stormed and raged, and ut- 
tered hideous and new-coined blasphemies against the revival, 
against the ministers, and the people of God generally. He 
swore with a dreadful oath that he would not live with his wife 
if she made a public profession of religion, and threatened to 
shoot the minister whose church she wished to join. It was a 
fearful exhibition of the human heart in its deep hatred of 
God. And will not Christ give him up now ? Will he not cut 
this bold blasphemer down ? Oh, wondrous mercy ! he again 
starts out to seek for this lost one ! 

One morning a dispatch is received that his mother is dying 
and wishes to see him. He has to travel several days before 



492 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

he can reach his old home, and these are days of bitter reflec- 
tion. That mother's love and teachings, and her efforts for his 
soul are all remembered. The scenes connected with his leav- 
ing home, and all the dark years of sin and madness that have 
passed since, are recalled, and conscience shakes his soul with 
its thunders. He would gladly flee from himself. Remorse is 
preying upon his soul with vulture appetite. 

He is at last at his mother's bedside. The lamp of life is 
flickering in her bosom and ready to go out. He grasped her 
hand, already grown cold in death, and stood gazing in speech- 
less sorrow beside her. She opened her eyes, and recognizing 
him, roused up her dying energies, and exclaimed, " Oh, John, 
will you not give your heart to the Saviour ? Promise to meet 
me in heaven!" Before he could master his emotions to reply, 
the happy spirit had gone to its blessed home. 

He retired to the closet — the spot where his mother in his 
young days had taken him to pray. He knelt on the very spot 
where she had often knelt. He felt himself a lost, undone sin- 
ner. He wondered at the mercy of God, who had spared him 
so long, and felt that he deserved to be shut up in hell long 
ago. He felt that in himself and in his doings there was tko 
hope for him, and cast himself upon the merits of Christ. A 
sweet peace filled his soul, and he rose from his knees justified. 
The Shepherd had at last found the lost and wandering sheep. 
Sinner, that Shepherd is seeking you now. In the pious 
friends he has given you, in the many privileges and means of 
grace you possess, in the many faithful sermons to which you 
have listened and the powerful revivals through which you have 
passed, in the deep and pungent convictions which God's Spirit 
has produced within you, in the terrible rebukes of your own 
conscience, and tke appeals of Jehovah in the Bible, in the blast- 
ing of your worldly hopes, the crosses and losses you have sus- 
tained, the pains of personal affliction and the loss of dear 
friends, — in all of these you may hear the voice of the Shep- 
herd sounding through the wilderness as he comes to seek you. 
This is not fancy, but solemn truth — not the opinion of man, 
but the honest testimony of the Bible. 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 493 

The parable teaches us the joy of the Lord Jesus in the re* 
covery of a lost sinner. " He layeth it upon his shoulder, rer 
joicing." As an old writer says : "You need not only his ^_j'^ to 
light upon you, his ha7id to lay hold upon you, his love to go 
after you, but his shoulde?' to carry you." And over that recov- 
ered one that great heart of love rejoices. " He sees of the 
travail of his soul and is satisfied." This was the joy set be- 
fore him for which " he endured the Cross and despised the 
shame." The pious minister feels his highest joy, his greatest 
reward, in the conversion of sinners under his labors. He can 
say with John — " I have no greater joy than to know that my 
children walk in the truth." So the Christian parent knows no 
greater delight than to see his children converted and taking 
their places in the church of God. But how much greater the 
joy of the Lord of angels and men when he sees the soul for 
which he groaned and died redeemed from the destroyer, 
washed from the defilement of sin, and fitted for an eternity of 
holy joy and praise ! It is not merely the joy of success, — it 
is the joy of a pure and lofty benevolence. 

How safe and secure is the soul that is thus recovered by Je- 
sus! Listen to the Lord's own word's — " My sheep hear my 
voice, and I know them, and they follow me ; and I give unto 
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any 
pluck them out of my hand." John lo : 27. As God, having 
all power in heaven and earth, Jesus is able to keep his people. 
The perils to which they are exposed are very great. They are 
perfect weakness in themselves. They have a powerful and an 
insidious adversary ever watching for their destruction ; but an 
Omnipotent Saviour has hold of them, and therefore let them 
confide with a firm faith in him who " is able to keep them from 
falling." The apostle Jude speaks of Christians as those "who 
are sanctified by God the Father, d^nd preserved in Jesus Christ." 
And they are said to be " kept by the power of God, through 
faith unto salvation." Surely they are well kept whom God 
keeps. His omnipotent love around them like a strong fortress, 
what have they to fear.^ The word of the eternal God is 
pledged in their defence, and sooner would he forget all the 



494 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



worlds that he has swung out into infinite space than forget one 
of those concerning whom he has said, " Behold I have engrav- 
en thee upon the palms of my hands." 

Who, then, can fix limits to the security of God's people.** 
They are secured by the intercession of Jesus. " I have prayed 
for you that your faith fail not." This was Peter's security amid 
all his fiery trials. And why should any one fear for whom Je- 
sus is interceding ? The Father hears him always, and he says, 
** Father, I will that those thou hast given me be with me, 
that they may behold my glory." Satan may rage, the gush of 
human sympathy to which we have been accustomed may be 
withdrawn, friends may forsake us, the world may frown, but if 
Jesus intercedes for us, and keeps us under his protection, all 
opposition will be but as " the fluttering of a wing on the breast 
of the eternal granite." " Better," as an old writer says, " to be 
buffeted into heaven than to be fondled into hell." 

THE LOST COIN. 

Our Lord introduces his next parable in these words : " What 
woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth 
not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till 
she find it ? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends 
and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have 
found the piece which I had lost." This parable is not a repe- 
tition, but it is presenting the same truth from another stand- 
point, and clothed in the freshness of a new illustration. In 
viewing some wonderfal scene in nature the mind often gets en- 
tirely new impressions by looking at it from different standpoints. 
From one point we are struck with the soft and gentle beauty of 
the scene ; from another point we are awed and overwhelmed 
with its sublimity. So it is with the gospel. It is the same great 
central truth — Christ crucified ; and yet it can be viewed from 
so many points, and presented in so many aspects, that it is ever 
fresh and new. And throughout eternity it will be a new 
song. It can never be exhausted nor overestimated, for it is a 
deep lay of infinite love. 

The minister of Christ need never fear, then, that by preach- 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 495 

ing Christ constantly his ministry will become uninteresting to 
the people and fail through sameness. If he is diligent and 
studious, and his own heart is filled and fired with the love 
of Christ, evangelical themes will give to his sermons a fresh- 
ness, a power, and a living beauty that will keep up an interest 
in his congregation from year to year that will never flag. In- 
deed, other things being equal, those ministers have the longest 
pastorates whose preaching contains most of Christ. The man 
who makes his sermons a compound of the moral essay, the lit- 
erary lecture, and the exciting themes of the stump orator, may, 
judging from the crowds and the newspaper puffs that follow 
him, seem to succeed for a time ; but the consciences of men 
tell them that this is wrong, and soon a reaction comes that 
sweeps him away, to seek a charge somewhere else ; while his 
neighbor, who went quietly on preaching the truth as it is in Je- 
sus, and commending himself to the consciences of men, con- 
tinues to grow steadily in usefulness and influence, and in the 
affections of his people. 

In the parable of the lost coin the first thing that 
strikes us is, that something considered of value had been 
lost. The lighting of the candle, the sweeping of the 
house, the diligent search, everything else being laid aside to 
attend to this matter, all showed that the thing lost was regarded 
as quite important. So when the soul of man becomes lost 
through sin, the most valuable object in the world is lost. 
Whether we reflect upon the soul's vast power of endless pro- 
gress ; its wonderful capacity of investigating the universe, from 
the lowest depths of earth to the highest star ; its ability to hold 
converse and communion with the Great God himself, and 
there to find its highest delight ; its rapidity of thought, by 
which it can move through the universe in the twinkling of an 
eye ; or the great interest that has been manifested in it by all 
heaven, — we must see its amazing value. 

The great value of the human soul is seen if we con- 
sider its immortality. That awful word applies to its 
duration — eternity ! — " the lifetime of the Almighty !" 
To look upon man as a being that must live as long as 



496 THE world's HOPE. 

God lives ; that must live to see the sun expire in night, and 
every star go out in darkness ; that must hear nature's expiring 
groan, and see the funeral of death ; that must be eternally- 
happy or miserable — a child of God's eternal love, or an out- 
cast upon whom are forever to beat the storms of his wrath, — 
all this is so solemn that it makes us stand in awe as we gaze 
even on a little child. 

How truthful and appropriate are the remarks of the Rev. 
Albert Barnes on this subject : " The very moment you attach 
the idea oi wunortality to a thing, no matter how insignificant it 
may be otherwise, that moment you invest it with unspeakable 
importance. Nothing can be mean and unworthy of notice 
which is to exist forever. An eternal rock, an eternal tree — 
plant — river, would impress our minds with the idea of vast 
sublimity, and make us feel that we were contemplating an ob- 
ject of unspeakable moment. Affix to it, then, the idea of eter- 
nal consciousness, though of the lowest order, and the mind is 
overwhelmed. The little humming-bird that in a May morning 
poises itself over the opening honeysuckle in your garden, and 
which is fixed a little and then is gone, is lovely to the eye, but 
we do not attach to it the idea of great importance in the scale 
of being. But attach to that now short-lived beautiful visitant 
of the garden the word immortality, and you invest it at once 
with an unspeakable dignity. Let it be confined forever in a cage, 
or let it start off on rapid wing, never to tire or faint, beyond 
the orbit of Neptune, or where the comet flies, or where Sirius 
is fixed in the heavens, to continue its flight when the heavens 
shall vanish away, and though with most diminutive conscious- 
ness of being, you make it an object of the deepest interest. 
The little, lonely, fluttering, eternal wanderer ! The beautiful 
little bird on an undying wing among the stars ! What, then, 
shall we think of an immortal soul — a soul to endure forever — 
a soul to which is attached all that is meant by the word eter- 
nity — a soul capable of immortal happiness or pain !" 

The exceeding value of man's soul is seen in what Jesus has 
done for it. Men often put forth great efforts for very insignifi- 
cant objects. But when we see the Saviour leave his bright 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 



497 



throne in the heavens, and become a homeless wanderer upon 
the earth, that he might save lost souls, we are able to form 
some estimate of the soul's value. When we see him constantly 
engaged, by night and by day, in the crowded city and the lone- 
ly wilderness, on the mountain and in the valley, in hunger and 
thirst, in pain and weariness, in seeking the lost soul that he 
may restore it to God, we read an emphatic commentary upon 
his own words — " What is a man profited if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in ex- 
change for his soul .?" 

Oh, yes ; in Calvary we see how much is lost when the soul 
is lost ! The Son of God covered with a bloody sweat — the 
loud cry of desolation that comes from his quivering lips — the 
darkened sun, the shuddering earth, the rending rocks, all na- 
ture convulsed to her centre, and all heaven moved with inter- 
est, prove the infinite value of the soul ! 

This is the precious thing that was lost. What a loss ! The 
loss of reputation, of wealth, of health, of property, of life — all 
are nothing to such a loss as this. And such is man's position 
out of Christ. He is a lost sinner; the curse of God is abiding 
upon him ; the sentence of condemnation has gone forth against 
him, and the only difference between him and the lost in hell is 
that for him there is hope, since a Saviour is seeking him, but 
for them there is no hope, because their day of merciful visita- 
tion is over — hope has gone out in despair. 

In this parable the woman set about a diligent search for the 
lost coin. Nothing that could be done to effect this object was 
wanting. The house was swept, the furniture removed, the light 
caused to throw its beams into every dark corner, and every- 
thing was done that diligence and earnestness could suggest to 
accomplish the object. Her heart was set upon accomplishing 
it. And God has left nothing undone to save the lost sinner. 
Infinite love has put forth its utmost efforts, so that the question 
can openly be put to the world by the world's Lord, "What 
more could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done 
for it .^" He has let down from heaven the great light of the 
Bible, so that no sinner might hide away in the darkness of ig- 



49^ THB world's hope. 

norance regarding his will and be lost. That holy book comes 
to be " a light to our feet and a lamp to our path." Across the 
darkness of our nature's night it flings its blessed light, that we 
may see the loving Saviour that is looking for our return. The 
light of the Holy Spirit is also given, that we may be led to Him 
who is both the Light and the Life. " The life was the light of 
men." John i : 4. 

When the woman illuminated her house it was with a special 
object in view — it was to find that which was lost. When God 
gives us light, it is that he may give us life along with it. If he 
enlightens the head, it is that he may renew the heart. Hence 
the very first announcement of truth that God made to man, 
after he became a sinner, was the promise of Christ. Light for 
his mind had wrapped up in it life for his soul. We talk about 
practical preaching and theoretical or doctrinal preaching. This 
is because we dare to put asunder what God has joined together. 
All God's preaching is practical. He never communicates light 
for the purpose of being criticised, speculated upon, or even ad- 
mired ; it is always to convey spiritual life. All of God's reve- 
lations to man, in all ages, whether through gracious covenants 
made with the patriarchs, or through altars, and sacrifices, and 
prophecies, all pointed to Christ, the life of the soul. Nothing 
has been revealed to satisfy vain curiosity, or to flatter pride of 
intellect, but all to save the perishing. The man sinking in a 
foundering ship does not amuse himself with a mere knowledge 
of the materials of which his life-preserver is composed, nor the 
way in which it was manufactured, but he at once applies it to 
the very purpose for which it was made — to save him. 

In the woman's search for the coin much confusion had to be 
caused. The sweeping of the house would raise much dust, 
and many things would be distributed out of their places. 
When Christ comes seeking for the lost sinner he has often to 
cause great disturbance. Nations are convulsed, and mighty 
revolutions are caused by the onward march of gospel truth. 
" They who have turned the world upside down are come 
hither also. Wickedness is often highly conservative. It cries, 
" Let us alone. Why disturb us.-*" But, like the mighty sweep 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 499 

of a hurricane, Christianity comes to put them to confusion who 
oppose God and his Annointed. 

Our best laid plans are blasted, our long-cherished hopes 
disappointed, our property taken from us, our health changed 
into pining sickness, our long-loved friends laid low in the 
grave, — but it is all done in love to the lost soul. As one of 
our noble and brave soldiers said, " I have lost my arm, but I 
am not sorry. If I had not lost my arm I might have lost my 
soul. I lost an arm, but I have found a Saviour ; and I can 
say it is better to have Jesus and one arm, than to have two 
arms and be as I have been before — without a Saviour. 

The woman in the parable sought for the lost coin until she 
found it. She did not abandon the search after a few fruitless 
efforts. So Jesus does not give up the lost soul easily. Oh, 
how intensely interested he is in your salvation, sinner ! No 
mother was ever more anxious for the restoration of her dying 
child than is Jesus for your perishing soul. He sees the eter- 
nity of woe that is before you, the eternity of bliss that you will 
lose if your soul is not saved ; and he follows you in your 
wanderings and seeks you in every corner in which you hide 
your guilty soul. 

A Christian visitor gives the following account of how Jesus 
found a poor wandering sinner in one of our military hospitals : 

I noticed in a distant part of the room a young man partially 
lifted from his couch, his countenance betraying more than or- 
dinary anxiety, as if for something not within his reach. His 
cheeks were flushed, haggard and worn. Cautiously approach- 
ing his bedside, I asked — " Is there anything I can do for 
you ?" 

He looked at me for a moment, then said, " Yes, tell me of 
Christ." 

" Do you know anything of him ?" I asked. 

" Y^s," he replied, " but I want to know more of him." 

For many months he had been lying in a loathsome prison in 
Virginia, suffering greatly from want, neglect and confinement, 
and but recently exchanged, had known little of proper nursing 
and care. Now it was refreshing to see how, in the enjoyment of 



500 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

greater comfort, his soul yearned for the Redeemer, and could 
be satisfied with nothing less than his presence, under weak- 
ness and pain. I sat down by his couch, and read a few verses 
from Holy. Writ, containing the last words of Jesus to his dis- 
ciples as he left them for his ascension to heaven. 

" Oh !" said he, "that is just my want!" 

Finding that he knew something by experience of the love (^ 
Jesus, I asked, " Are you desirous of greater intimacy with 
him ?" 

" Oh, yes," he replied, my soul is starving for more of Christ 
— more of Christ T \& repeated as he laid himself back upon 
his pillow. "I want to feel," he added, "Jesus saying these 
words to me which he said to his disciples while with them on 
earth." 

" He does say them \o you^ if you have only given yourself to 
him," I replied. 

" I think I have, but I want to get Christ afresh — to feel cer- 
tain he is mine." 

" Give yourself anew to him by faith — consecrating soul and 
body afresh to his service, so shall you feel his salvation nigh, 
full and sure to your thirsting spirit." 

So saying, I left him, thinking he might like to be alone, and 
soon after returned to hear him say : 

" I have had a new sight of Jesus. He seems to come down 
to my wants — to feel all my doubts with me, and say, ' Doubt 
no more — trust fully in me.' " 

" And such a trust !" he continued, " I have only to cast my- 
self on him, as altogether vile and worthless, when he appears 
all in all to my soul." 

" So precious !" said I. 

"Yes" he repeated, the tears rolling down his cheeks, "i-^ 
precious! I think I never felt him so nigh." 

" * Abide in me,* says Christ, so shall you know the fullness 
of redeeming love. 

'"Jesus, I my cross have taken, 

All to leave and follow thee ; 
Perish every fond ambition, 

Hangs my helpless soul on thee !'" 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 50I 

Clasping his thin pale hands, he repeated "Yes, hangs my 
helpless soul on thee. Oh, I can die now," he added. " It was 
just this I wanted — Christ to enter into my soul, so that I could 
feel one with him and he one with me." 

Soon after, I bade him adieu, and yesterday, on going in 
again, found his place vacant. On inquiry, I learned he had 
died but a few hours before. His last words were, " Christ my 
Redeemer — my All T 

Dear reader, — if Jesus has indeed found you, then keep 
close to him all of your days upon earth. Do not, like Peter, 
follow him afar off; but put your hand in his hand, and let him 
lead you whithersoever he pleaseth, for be sure that he will 
lead you in the right way. 

•' My hand in Christ's !" He leadeth where he lists — 
Through flowery fields or 'neath a starry sky. 
My faith is strong ; //^V/ bring me safely through 
The ills of life till I am called to die. 

*' My hand in Christ's !" I fear not what may come — 
If he is mine I cannot yield to sin ; 
His everlasting arms are round me here, 
And I can safely trust my all to Him. 

*'My hand in Christ's!" I care not how death comes, 
Whether by pestilence or in the fight ; 
I shall be safe beneath his gentle care, 

Sltould the sun smite by day or moon by night. 

" My hand in Christ's !" who bore up Calvary's height 
The Cross, and gave his precious life up there 
To save a wretch like me ! Can I e'er doubt, 
Or give myself a victim to despair ? 

No ! let me cling the closer to his side, 

And with a child's devotion hold him fast ! 
•* My hand in His !" I'll safely pass along ; 

Though storms may howl, my home I'll gain at last. 

** My hand in Christ's !" E'en down to death's cold flood. 
He'll bear me conqueror through the dying strife ; 
And safe with those who've only gone before, 
I shall have entered on that higher life. 



502 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

THE PRODIGAL SON. 

Who has not admired the beautiful parable of the prodigal 
son ? Like the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, it 
was brought out in reply to the objection of the Pharisees — 
" This man receiveth sinners." There are two great and glori- 
ous truths which it teaches with unmistakable clearness. The 
first of these is, that the fact that we are sinners is no longer a 
reason why we should stay away from our God. The younger 
son left his home, squandered his property, and sank into the 
lowest depths of degradation ; but when with trembling fear he 
approached his old home, he found there a fatherly heart that 
still loved him, and a kind and hospitable welcome. His past 
conduct was not imputed to him at all, but he was at once 
placed in the condition of a beloved son. Thus it is that God 
treats the sinner that returns to him through the merits of Jesus 
Christ. No matter how far he may have wandered, or how 
deeply he may have sinned, he is heartily welcomed back to the 
favor of his God. His past sins are remembered against him 
no more. " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him- 
self, not imputing their trespasses unto them." 

The other great truth taught us in the passage is that we do 
not xtQ^xT^ \.o work so7ne good thing imis before God can love 
us. The prodigal did not need to wait till he could win back 
all his lost property, till he could dress himself as well as he 
was when he left home, nor till he had acquired a good reputa- 
tion, before his father would receive him. No ; he came just 
as he was, in all his rags and his wretchedness, and was accept- 
ed — not reluctantly, but joyfully. It is true it was very morti- 
fying to his pride to come home as' he was. Pride would 
have suggested that he should at least place himself in as 
respectable a position as before, and then begin his approaches 
homeward. But he abandoned that as utterly hopeless. His 
all was gone, and the only ray of hope that shone upon his soul 
came from the thought of his father's free, forgiving love. He 
found that he did not require to do anything to make that love, 
that it had existed all along, even at the time he was sinning 
against it most and doubting it most. 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 503 

And does not this illustrate most clearly the truth that the 
sinner may come to God just as he is through Jesus Christ? 
He does not need to provide a robe of righteousness in which 
to dress himself; let him come in his rags, and the love of his 
forgiving God will dress him in the best robe. 

Let us now go over the different portions of this parable, and 
seek to discover the spiritual truths it is intended to convey. 

The parable first represents man in his departure from God. 
The son was at home, surrounded with all the comforts of 
home, and secure in the affection of his father ; but he became 
dissatisfied, and wished to depart and be independent. How 
like to man's conduct towards his God ! Made after the image 
of his Creator, endowed with the noblest powers, placed in 
paradise, a type of heaven itself, with affections that could soar 
up to God's throne and hold personal communion with Jehovah 
and with the whole universe around him, reflecting like a mir- 
ror the glory of his Father, he yet became dissatisfied with his 
condition, and wanted to be something more and something 
better than his God had made him. He first rebelled against 
the Divine Father in heart, and then in outward conduct. 
When the prodigal's heart was estranged from his father, his 
home ceased to be a home, and became a prison to him. His 
body might as well go forth to wander, when his heart had al- 
ready gone forth. 

So when man's heart lost its trust and confidence in God, 
when he believed Satan's lie rather than God's truth, paradise 
became to him a prison ; his God became an object of dread, 
from whom he sought to hide ; that voice which once he loved 
to hear became to him a sound of terror — and all because he 
had now an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living 
God. There have been vast efforts of learning and of meta 
physical skill put forth to account for the origin of evil, but we 
will find nowhere a better explanation than that furnished by 
God himself: " God mdde man upright, but he hath sought out 
many inventions." 

When the prodigal had apostatized in heart from his father, 
he then went and demanded his portion of goods. He is going 



504 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

to set up fpr himself, and demands his rights. As has been 
observed, his demand sounds as if he had been consulting his 
lawyer, and was particularly anxious to put his claim into 
strictly legal phraseology. The father made no opposition, but 
let him have his portion of goods. He saw that his heart was 
gone, and why should he retain his body ? 

God has given to us a portion of goods. It is those things 
which men possess in common, irrespective of their character. 
Our health, reason, time, talents, property, influence, are all giv- 
en us by God to be employed for his glory. When, however, 
man takes these gifts and seeks to employ them independent of 
God, and even against God, he plunges into fearful guilt and 
misery. The prodigal not only used his father's property in a 
way that deeply grieved that father's heart, but in a way that 
brought wretchedness upon himself. One sets out in the pride 
of his heart to be independent of revelation. He sets up his 
own reason as a sufficient guide to him through the darkness of 
earth. By the dim taper-light of his own reason he tries to 
climb the loftiest altitudes of God's counsels, and to pry into 
the secrets of the Almighty. In the* far-off land of scepticism 
and gloom his feeble reason plunges in hopeless confusion, his 
God-forsaken soul starving for spiritual food, which the hand 
of faith alone can reach. 

Others take the time that should be employed for God, and 
use it in the service of the devil. Their property is all em- 
ployed in the gratification of self, and in promoting their own 
little paltry interests. Their talents and influence are worse 
than squandered. Their life is an utter failure. They have 
spent their substance in riotous living. • 

What is meant by the prodigal son going into a far country ? 
It is doubtless intended to represent the spiritual distance of the 
soul from God while in a state of unbelief. It is not a local or 
geographical distance, for in that sense God is very near us, 
*' about our bed and about our path and spying out all our ways." 
It is the wandering of the soul — the alienation of the affections — 
the estrangement of the heart. It is that state of mind in which 
God is not in all our hearts : nay, in which he is often not in any 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 505 

of our thoughts. It is that state of mind in which a man can 
live a whole day, a week, a month, a year, — nay, many years, — 
not only without fellowship with God, but in making the most 
strenuous efforts to exclude all thoughts of him from the mind. 
It is t-hat state of mind in which a man lays all his plans for the 
future, all his schemes of happiness, all his designs in regard to 
his home, his friends, his business, without consulting God ; yea, 
without taking the thought of an All-seeing God and an over- 
ruling Providence into the account at all. That God who is 
feeding and clothing him, who is fanning his heaving lungs, 
who is constantly sustaining his life, who is surrounding him 
with an ocean of blessings, who gave his Son to die for him, 
and who earnestly longs for his salvation, he not only refuses 
constantly to acknowledge in all his ways, but he practically 
lives as if He had no existence. ' This is living in the far 
country ; it is the atheism of the heart, whatever may be the 
creed of the head. 

This moral distance is often seen existing among men who 
once were friends. You have a dear friend, one whom you re- 
gard as the kindest and the best. Your love for each other has 
been like that of David and Jonathan. In his society your 
happiest hours have been spent. To him you went with your joys 
and your sorrows, and ever found a ready sympathizer. But 
now all this is at an end. Your friend is not shut up from your 
sight in the grave, he has not gone from you to other lands, you 
meet him on the street, your clothes may rub as you pass in the 
throng, but there is no recognizing look, no kindly word spoken, 
no warm pressure of the hand. There is a great distance be- 
tween you now — not a geographical distance, for you may live 
in the same street or lodge in the same house, but in heart in 
feeling, you are wide apart. 

It is this great moral and spiritual distance which sin has 
brought about between God and man. This is seen in the 
whole human family, from the earliest dawning of intelligence. 
As soon as conscience begins to perform its functions, and wit- 
nesses for the justice and holiness of God, there is a rising up 
of the whole soul in revolt against his government. Yes, on the 



5o6 THE world's hope. 

very threshold of life we take into our hearts the dark spectre, 
UNBELIEF, that ever speaks of distrust of God. Our conscious- 
ness of sin makes us dread to think of God, and that dread 
ripens into absolute enmity — " The carnal mind is enmity 
against God." When in this state of mind men put all thought 
of God as far away from them as they can. As you have seen 
a man bow a disagreeable visitor out of his house, so men put 
God far from them, saying, " Depart from us, we desire not a 
knowledge of thy ways." Oh ! into what a far country has the 
sinner wandered when he has reached this state ! And the 
longer he continues in it the wider becomes the distance be- 
tween him and God, till at last he drifts into the dark sea of 
eternal death. 

When the prodigal got into the far country we are told that 
he began to be in want. This was a sad termination to his high 
prospects of enjoyment. Doubtless he thought that if he could 
only be once independent, and get away from all parental con- 
trol, his wants would all be supplied. But now his trouble is 
only beginning. He has reached the far-off land of hope and 
promise, where all his desires were to be gratified, but he finds 
instead that there is a " mighty famine in that land." 

Thus end all man's attempts to be happy away from God. 
How strikingly illustrative of this are the words of Solomon : 
*' I made me great works, I builded me houses ; I planted me 
vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted 
trees in them of all kinds of fruits ; I made me pools of water, 
to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees ; I got me 
servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house ; also 
I had great possessions of great and small cattle, above all that 
were in Jerusalem before me ; I gathered me also silver and 
gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces ; 
I got me men singers and women singers, and the delights of 
the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 
So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me 
in Jerusalem ; and whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from 
them ; I withheld not my heart from any joy. Then I looked 
on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 507 

that I had labored to do, and behold all was vanity and vexa- 
tion of spirit." 

In this connection the reader will recall the words of the ac- 
complished and courtly Lord Chesterfield : " I am now at the 
age of sixty years. I have been as wicked as Solomon. I have 
not been so wise ; but this I know, I am wise enough to test the 
truth of his reflection, that all is vanity and vexation of spirit." 
And after all that Lord Byron possessed of rank, and genius, 
and fame, listen to the melancholy wail that comes from his 
bitterly disappointed heart — 

" My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flower, the fruit of life are gone ; 
The worm, the canker, and the grief 
Are mine alone. 

What a contrast to this are the words of the distinguished 
Wilberforce : " I never knew happiness till I found Christ a 
Saviour." And the sooner we become convinced of this the 
better, that we may no longer fill our souls with disappoint- 
ment and grief, by seeking happiness where it cannot possibly 
be found ; for except those who have found peace in Christ, 
the whole race in the scramble after the world may be classed 
under two heads — those who have been disappointed with the 
world, and those who are got?}g to be. 

In this state of famine and distress, the prodigal "joined 
himself to a citizen of the country." We would have supposed 
that his sufferings, his bitter disappointments, his pinching 
wants, would have sent him home at once. But, no ; — man's 
last resource is to go to God. When he fails in one worldly 
project, he turns to another; and as each new plan fails to give 
him the satisfaction he expected, he concludes that the reason 
is that he has not yet got enough of the world, and so with new 
vigor he takes a fresh start. God says make the tree good and 
the fruit will be good ; purify the fountain and the stream will 
be pure. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of the 
things which he possesses. Man thinks that his happiness is to 
be found without, when it is only to be found within. There 
can no more be happiness in a foul heart than there can be ease 



5o8 THE world's hope. 

and comfort in a diseased body. ' Man changes his place, in- 
stead of changing his inward state. He may run fast, and 
change his place often ; but as long as the misery is within, he 
cannot flee from it aay more than from himself. 

This last change of the prodigal, accordingly, did not mend 
his condition at all ; on the contrary, it sank him into a deeper 
degradation. In the house of this citizen he no doubt expect- 
ed to be much happier than in his father's house ; but instead, 
he is sent to be a swine-herd, the most disgusting employment 
to which a Jew could be put. He is tortured, too, with the 
pangs of hunger, and is glad to partake of the food of the 
loathsome animals he tends. Such is the degradation to which 
sin reduces the soul of man that he seeks to satisfy the cravings 
of his immortal part with mere animal gratifications. " Soul, 
take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." But the soul re- 
fuses to be satisfied with such paltry things, and sends forth its 
bitter wail of anguish as it feels itself cheated of all real good. 
The struggle of worldly men for the last six thousand years has 
just been an effort to satisfy their souls with swinish husks. 
The struggle is now kept up as vigorously as if the past read 
men no lessons of warning, and as if experience taught no les- 
sons of instruction, while God utters from the heavens, " O, that 
they were wise, that they understood this, that they would con- 
sider their latter end !" 

At last the prodigal begins to think. " He came to himself." 
Before this he had been acting like one whose wild imagina- 
tion has broken the bridle of reason, and dashes furiously on 
to destruction. It was such a display of headlong passion as 
reminds one of " moody madness laughing wild amid severer 
woe." The expressions "self-possessed," "beside oneself," 
" losing oneself," are all very common and significant, and 
shadow forth the great truth that man's nature, made by God 
harmonious and united, has been rent in two. His soul has be- 
come a battle-field where two eternities conflict. Conscience 
pulls one way — passion another. The strivings of the Spirit, 
the convictions of right, the voice of early training, all lead in 
one direction ; the promptings of the depraved heart, the 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 509 

temptations of Satan, the fashions and maxims of the world, all 
lead in another direction. Thus there is a constant conflict, an 
internal war kept up in the human soul. Even the most intel- 
ligent of the ancient heathen seem to have felt that human 
nature was in this rent and torn condition. Xenophon says — 
'* I must have two souls, for plainly it is not one and the same 
that is both evil and good, that at the same time wishes to do a 
thing and not to do it." " I see and approve the better things,'* 
said another, " and yet follow the worse." 

The prodigal lost himself when he wandered from his home 
and from his father ; and every sinner is, in a sense, beside 
himself till he returns to God through the Lord Jesus. He may 
be intelligent and learned — he may in the affairs of the world 
be distinguished by great natural shrewdness and common 
sense ; but in regard to spiritual things — those things which 
God and angels esteem of supreme importance — he is far from 
being in his right mind. What but a moral madness raging in 
his nature could make him prefer the favor of man to the smiles . 
of God — the enjoyments of earth to the raptures of heaven 
— the husks of sin to the manna of God's love ! Surely " mad- 
ness is in his heart." 

The symptom of man coming to his right mind is when he 
begins to reflect. " In my father's house there is bread enough 
and to spare." He thought of one heart that once loved him 
tenderly, of a loving home that once sheltered him, and as he 
reflected upon the past and contrasted it with the present, his. 
soul broke down in contrition, and then came the resolve, " I 
will arise and go to my father." A great point is gained when 
the sinner is led to think of eternal things. Whatever it may 
be that leads to this, whether it be under the faithful preaching^ 
of the word or the afflictions of Providence, if he is only led to 
reflect upon his lost condition it will surely do him good. No 
man can honestly and earnestly take up the claims of God upon 
him and his prospects for eternity, and look them fairly in the 
face, without being led to feel his need of a Saviour. Sinners 
rush down to destruction because they will not consider. 

A Christian father had a son whose conduct had nearlv 



510 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

broken his heart. He had prayed for him, instructed him in 
the things of God, and done all that his deep love for his soul 
and for his fature welfare dictated, but all to no avail. He 
grew up a vile, hardened sinner, and left his father's home, 
young in years, but old in sin. At length that father was 
thrown upon a bed of death. Before breathing his last he sent 
for his prodigal son, and asked him to promise, after his father 
was laid in the grave, that he would spend one hour alone each 
day in that room, for three months. The son readily gave the 
promise. The death of his father made but little impression on 
him, and again he rushed on in his mad career of sin. That 
hour alone, however, was a great burden to him. He greatly 
dreaded it, yet did not dare to break his promise made under 
such solemn circumstances. At last one day the hour dragged 
along slower than usual. He had an engagement with some boon 
companions, and was in haste to go and enjoy their society. 
He often consulted his watch to see how the time passed. At 
last the thought came into his mind, "Why did my father lay 
upon me this strange obligation ?" Then quick as lightning 
the thought flashed over his mind — " My father was a good 
man, he loved my soul, and it must have been for my soul's 
good he did this." This led him to reflect upon his father's 
love, his past life in all its vileness, his lost and desperate state 
as a sinner against God's holy law, till he fell upon his knees 
and cried, " God be merciful to me a sinner!" He spent not 
only the hour but the whole day alone with God, nor did he 
leave the room till it could be said of him that he " had come 
to himself." He came out of that room a converted man. 

The prodigal had now come to the, resolution of going to his 
father, but his mind was full of dark misconceptions about that 
father's character and his feelings towards him. He knew that 
his father 07ice loved him, but that he loved him now, that he 
had loved him all along in his wicked wanderings, was some- 
thing of which he could form no conception. He knew that he 
had wasted his all, and that he had therefore no price to bring 
in his hand with which to purchase his father's love ; but still 
he felt as if something must be done to produce a change in 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 5II 

that father, to turn away the anger which he thought burned in 
his bosom against him. He thinks that it will require a good 
deal of pleading on his part to induce the father even to receive 
him as a hired servant. 

This is a true picture of our depraved, fallen nature. We can- 
not think of God as one who has loved us all along, even in our 
worst days of rebellion against him. We think of him as one 
full of vindicative wrath, and when we think of becoming re- 
ligious we think of doing something that will change God as well 
as change ourselves. We think of adopting such a course of 
good works, prayers, and holy living as will turn aside God's 
anger from us and give us a place in his love. Hence it is the 
most difficult thing in the world to lead the sinner to think of 
the gospel as God's free, full welcome to him to come just as he 
is and be saved. " God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
himself." But the sinner's idea is that it is God who first needs 
to be reconciled by a course of good deeds on his part. The 
unbelief of the heart rejects a present salvation, offered without 
money and without price. 

The picture presented to the mind in the parable is inex- 
pressibly beautiful. The son, clothed in rags, weak, pale, hag- 
gard, desponding, weary and foot-sore, is seen approaching his 
old home. He is very doubtful about his reception. He 
knows that he cannot be received on the ground of his riches, for 
all is gone. He cannot be received on the ground of the rich- 
ness of his dress or the loftiness of his position. He is clothed 
in the habiliments of a beggar, and his position has been the 
most degraded. His only hope is in the prayer which he has 
been making up. in his mind, and which he hopes will touch his 
father's heart, and gain him admission under the paternal roof: 
" Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am 
no more worthy to be called thy son ; make me as one of thy 
hired servants." Oh, how little did he know of the depth of 
that love he had so long despised and grieved ! 

In the meantime the father sees his long-lost son, while he is 
yet afar off. The eye of affection is quick to detect its object 
under any and every disguise, and love is quick in its motions. 



i^ ^ THE WORLD S HOPE. 

He runs to meet the long lost one. The son sees the father ap- 
proach him — not with the frown of indignation upon his brow 
— not with the clenched fist of threatening, nor with the bitter 
words of upbraiding, but with the tear of compassion in his eye 
and words of affection upon his lips. The son begins his well- 
conned prayer, but it is interrupted by the kiss of reconciliation. 
The arms of love are thrown around him. He is to be arrayed 
in the best robe; shoes are ordered for his weary feet, and the 
whole house is in a state of joyous excitement over his return. 
Oh, how different is this from what he expected! How all his 
unbelieving doubts and his misconceptions of his father's true 
character are dispelled by the gracious reception he now re- 
ceives ! and how vile his former conduct now appears in the 
light of his father's love ! The very love that gives him such a 
hearty reception at the same time produces true repentance on 
account of the past, and plants in his soul the principle of a true 
obedience in the future. 

Sinner, this is a picture of the God with whom you have to 
do. He has followed you in your wanderings with ten thou- 
sand proofs of his love, though you have not heeded them. 
And even n.ow he loves you still. You have nothing to do but 
to return to him through Jesus Christ, and your past sins will 
all be blotted out, and be no longer imputed to you. " Draw 
near unto me, and I will draw near unto you." You have no 
preparation to wait for — no new garments to prepare — no price 
to present ; the Father is waiting for you this moment, while 
your eyes are upon this page. Rise and go to him through 
faith in his Son. Take all the blame of your guilt to yourself. 
Do not seek to palliate it nor to excuse it. " Father, I have 
sinned against heaven, and in thy sight." And no matter how 
deep and damning may have been your sin, the God of love 
will receive you graciously and love you freely. He will put 
upon you the best robe, even his Son's righteousness; he will 
give you a place among his own children, make you an heir 
and a joint heir with Christ, and give you a place in his eter- 
nal home of love, to go no more out forever. 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 513 

JOY IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ANGELS. 

The Lord concludes the parables of the lost sheep and of the 
lost coin with the wonderful declaration — '* Likewise, I say un- 
to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
one sinner that repenteth." And the parable of the prodigal is 
concluded with an intimation of great joy over the recovery of 
the lost one. We know that there is great joy often on earth over 
the conversion of a sinner. We have often seen the praying mother 
rejoice with unspeakable delight over the conversion of her son. 
We have seen the pious father rejoice more than those who have 
found great treasure, when a letter from some distant land, or 
from the army in the tented field, brought him intelligence that 
the beloved son — the object of many prayers — had given his 
heart to Jesus. We have seen a whole church break out in rap- 
tures of joy over the conversion of some hardened, stout-heart- 
ed rebel against God. 

But this joy is not confined lo earth. The pure and sinless 
inhabitants of heaven, the holy angels, who have ever taken a deep 
interest in the affairs of our world, rejoice in the repentance of 
\he sinner. This conception of the interest of angels in us is 
not founded on human vanity — not built upon an exaggerated 
idea of our own importance ; it is founded upon the true words of 
the Lord of angels — the Creator of those pure spirits, who 
knows what is in their hearts. When we expect to go to a dis- 
tant country, to reside, we feel anxious to know something of 
the character and disposition of those who are to be our neigh- 
bors and associates there ; and in journeying towards heaven, 
how delightful to know that our future companions in that 
world of glory are those who have always been deeply inter- 
ested in our welfare on earth. This knowledge seems already 
to introduce us to them, and to bind us together in love. 

The higher any being rises in holiness, the nearer he approaches 
to God, the less selfish such an one becomes, and the more 
his heart burns with benevolence. Thus angels and good mei\ 
unite in rejoicing over the same things, because filled with the 
same spirit. On the other hand, the more beings become filled 
with the spirit of sin, the farther they get away from God, the 



5 ; THE world's hope. 

more selfish they become, and the more difficult they find it to 
believe that there is any such thing as disinterestedness in the 
world. Thus Satan said, " Does Job serve God for naught ?" 
As if he had said, he is well paid for his piety ; he is making a 
gain of his godliness, or else he would be as wicked as other 
people. 

Now all wicked people are filled with the same spirit of dis- 
trust in all goodness. No matter how devoted and self-denying 
a minister may be, they will insist upon it that he is only preach- 
ing for pay. When our Christian ladies leave their elegant 
homes, and, animated by the love of Christ, enter the low and 
filthy hovels of our cities, that they may do their wretched in- 
mates good, they have been asked how much they are paid for 
that work. These victims of sin and selfishness could not con- 
ceive of any one going through so much labor and self-denial 
from a principle of pure love to their souls. They judge of all 
human hearts by their own, not knowing that the love of Christ 
makes a man a new creature. 

The joy of the holy angels is excited over a certain state of 
mind, frequently in the Bible called repentance. It then be- 
comes a most important question — What is repentance ? It is 
often represented as a process of deep sorrow of mind and an- 
guish of soul — a kind of mental purgatory through which souls 
must pass before they can be fit to come to Christ and exercise 
faith in his merits. Hence it is no uncommon thing for anx- 
ious inquirers, when urged to come to Christ, to tell us they fear 
that they have not repented enough yet, and that they must 
wait for more conviction and a deeper sorrow for sin before 
they believe in Jesus. Thus the mind is turned in upon itself, 
to watch for the progress of certain emotions which are sup- 
posed to form a qualification for coming to Christ. 

This view of what repentance is, is all wrong. Looking at a 
man's own vileness will never produce repentance. A very 
forcible writer says, " I might just as well attempt to produce 
heat by looking at snow, to produce light by looking at dark- 
ness, to produce wealth by looking at poverty, to produce health 
by looking at disease, to produce life by looking at death, as to 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 515 

produce true repentance by looking at my sins. True, I may 
look at them, think of them, blush for them, sigh over them, 
weep on account of them, tremble at their multitude, shudder 
at their magnitude, be appalled at their terrible consequences, 
and all the while not possess a single atom of true repentance 
— of repentance unto life. I may write out a catalogue of my 
sins, I may peruse and re-peruse that catalogue, I may see it to 
be as black as midnight — black as hell itself, and yet not be led 
to repentance." 

Instead of repentance being a state of mind that prepares the 
sinner for coming to Christ, it is a state of mind which can only 
be produced by his coming to Christ. " Know ye not that the 
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.'*" Instead of re- 
pentance leading us to Christ, it is Christ that leads us to re- 
pentance. It does not go before, but follows after accept- 
ance through Jesus. We are told he is " exalted a Prince and 
a Saviour, io give repentance to Israel," and hence we must go 
to him before we can have repentance. The storm and the 
avalanche may shatter the large masses of ice to pieces, but it 
is the warm beams of the sun that alone can melt them ; and 
there is nothing but a believing view of the love of God in Christ 
Jesus that can melt man's heart. It is a change of mind about 
God, and that can only be produced by a believing view of God's 
love in Christ. The mind of the sinner naturally is " enmity 
against God," and nothing can ever change that enmity into 
love but faith in Jesus. 

The moment a man believes savingly in Jesus he repents, and 
he never does before. What ! can a man be a penitent who is 
still rejecting the Lord who bought him with his own blood.? 
Can a man be a penitent who is still in soul-damning unbelief.'' 
— a penitent, and yet calling God a liar ! No ; there can be no 
true repentance till there is a full submission of the heart to 
God's way of savin^: us through the merits of his Son. 

The time when the angels rejoice is well worthy of our no- 
tice. It is not when the saved sinner enters heaven — not when 
a long course of devotion to Christ ends in eternal life ; but at 
the very beginning of his course — when he repents. Now 



5i6 THE world's hope. 

when a soul comes to Christ, and enlists in his service, there is 
a long war and conflict still before him. There are the remains 
of his carnal nature, the temptations of Satan, the influence of 
the world in its constant appeals to the pleasures of sense — 
these all tend to drag the soul downwards. The human soul is 
a battle-field, upon which a fearful conflict is raging between the 
powers of light and of darkness. 

Why do not the angels wait till they see this conflict ended, 
and the believer come off more than conqueror } They are evi- 
dently believers in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints 
— a doctrine that is capable of being greatly perverted and 
abused, but which is still founded on the word of God, and full 
of glorious comfort to God's people. The angels rejoice when 
they see a soul start right, for then they have no doubt as to 
how the matter will end. They have seen the mighty grace of 
God triumph in the weakness of so many of his people, and 
bringing them through victorious over all their foes, that they 
have no fears of the final result. 

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints has been 
greatly misrepresented, and consequences have been attached 
to it from which every pious mind shrinks with horror. Most 
of the efforts put forth against this doctrine are not really 
against it, but against a mere caricature of it. We do not as- 
sert that all professors of religion will be saved, for many of 
them are hypocrites and self-deceivers ; but we do assert, on 
the authority of God's holy word, that all who have been really 
converted, who have truly believed in the Lord Jesus, and 
whose names have been recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life, 
are " kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation, 
ready to be revealed in the last time." On this point the words 
of Jesus are very strong and clear: "This is the Father's will 
who sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose 
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." " My sheep 
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I 
give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither 
shall any man pluck them out of my hand." 

But these promises are only for true believers. If a man is 



PRECIOUS TRUTHS FOR PERISHING SINNERS. 517 

not now living by faith in the Son of God — if he is not this 
moment persevering in faith, and love, and holy zeal, and in nil 
the graces of the Spirit, but is depending upon some old re- 
ligious experience in the remote past, what right has he to rest 
upon these promises ? — what evidence has he that he is a saint 
at all ? The perseverance of the saints is the saints' persever- 
ance. That is, the only evidence that 1 can give that I am a 
saint at all, is that I persevere in faith in Jesus and obedience 
to his commands. A man once told me he had for many years 
been a professor, but that for the last ten years he had ne- 
glected all the duties of a Christian, and had lived a careless 
and ungodly life. " But," said he, " I have never given up my 
hope." I told him it was time he had given it up ; that it was 
-evidently a false hope, and would lead him to perdition. I 
learned that he was an habitual drunkard, and at the moment 
he spoke to me his breath smelt strongly of the intoxicating 
bowl ! I had no confidence in a hope that had been so long 
preserved in whisky. 

We notice also that the angels rejoice over one sinner thdt re- 
penteth. If we put forth an effort for the conversion of souls, 
and but one is converted, we are oftener filled with a feeling of 
despondency rather than of joy. But the holy angels have such 
a just appreciation of the value of a soul that they rejoice when 
one is brought to Christ. Besides, the conversion of one soul 
very often implies the conversion of a great multitude, through 
the instrumentality of that one. When Peter was converted 
there was wrapped up in that fact the conversion of the three 
thousand to whom he preached on the day of Pentecost. When 
such men as Carey, Bunyan, Whitefield and Wesley were con- 
verted, what vast harvests of souls were implied in their giving 
their hearts to God. 

Oh ! then, let us labor for the salvation of souls with un- 
Avearied fidelity! Let us sow beside all waters, "be diligent in 
season and out of season," and God will bless our efforts, so 
that not only our own souls shall rejoice, and angels rejoice, 
but the blessed Saviour shall see of the travail of his soul and 
be satisfied." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 



"Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may 
be glorified in the Son." John 14 : 13. 

Prayer is such a solemn act, it brings us so near God, it is so 
intimately connected with our spiritual life, it occupies such a 
large place in the teachings of the Bible, that it becomes a mo^st 
important question — How can I present such prayers to God as 
he can consistently answer 1 How can I come to occupy the 
position of a prevailer with Jehovah 7 

Prayer is talking face to face with God. It is pouring out 
the desires of the soul in God's ear, and waiting in the earnest 
expectation of faith for an answer. It is not uttering words in 
which the heart has no sympathy — it is not the utterance of cer- 
tain words, however scriptural and proper these words may be, 
but it is the whole soul poured out before God for blessings 
that we know we must have or all is lost — blessings which none 
but he can give, and which we believe he is willing to give if we 
ask them aright. 

Now, this presenting of the soul's wishes to God is highly 
reasonable. We think it quite reasonable to present our desires 
for anything that we want to each other. The father regards it 
as quite reasonable that his child should come and ask him for 
what it wants. It may not be able to present its petition in elo- 
quent and correct language. It may lisp, and stammer, and 
hesitate ; but the tearful eye, the beaming face, the heaving 
bosom, tell that its whole soul is in earnest, and the loving father 
grants the request, if it be at all possible. " If you who are 
fathers know how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit un- 
to them that ask him." If our neighbors want anything of us, 
we think it highly reasonable that we should hear them express 

518 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 519 

that wish to us ; and why should it not be so between God and 
us ? That Being who has given us our powers of mind and the 
ability to express our desires — who has placed us under our 
present probation, and is intimately acquainted with all the trials 
and perils of our lot — who has our whole destiny for time 
and eternity in his hands — who can sink us to the depths of 
despair, or raise us to the height of glory, has surely a right to 
expect that we will come to him in all our helplessness, in our 
sorrows and our joys, in our seasons of depression and eleva- 
tion — in short, that we will " acknowledge him in all our ways, 
that he may direct our steps." A most reasonable act is 
prayer. 

There is deeply engraven upon the human soul a conviction 
of the importance of prayer. Man is a worshiping being. 
Even the atheist, who courts the unholy distinction of living in 
a fatherless world, and who laughs to scorn the idea of prayer, 
yet when brought suddenly under the pressure of some great 
calamity, instinctively cries to God for help. There is a well- 
authenticated fact, which occurred in Canada, which will illus- 
trate this. 

A minister of Christ was walking out in the woods one eve- 
ning, engaged in meditation and prayer. He had not gone far 
till he heard the sound of a man's voice raised, as if in the act 
of addressing a crowd. As he came nearer he not only saw 
quite an assemblage of persons, but heard a young man ad- 
dressing them in words that filled him with horror. The speaker 
denied the being of a God, ridiculed the Sacred Scriptures, and 
poured out the most dreadful blasphemies. When the infidel 
orator closed his remarks an old man arose and asked permis- 
sion to say a few words. He remarked that several days before 
he saw a young man in a small boat on the river, a little above 
a dangerous rapid. He saw that the youth was unacquainted 
with the river, and with the management of a boat, and he 
called aloud to warn him of his danger, but it was too late — the 
boat was fast gliding in the fatal rapid ! The young man then, 
he said, became alarmed, dropped his oars, fell upon his knees, 
and began to call upon God for mercy. He confessed that he 



520 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



had been an infidel, and had boldly blasphemed the name of 
God, and he promised that if his life were spared he would live 
in a different manner. Said the old man : " Being for many 
years acquainted with the river, at the risk of my own life I went 
into the water and saved that youth's life. And now I have 
nothing more to say, than that that young man is the same 
Avhose horrid blasphemies you have this evening been listen- 
ing to !" 

When the old man sat down there was a pause for a moment, 
astonishment and consternation sitting on the faces of the 
crowd. Then the orator arose and slunk away in the darkness, 
when the audience instantly dispersed, as if a bombshell had 
exploded in their midst. 

Ah, yes! it is easy to bluster and utter big swelling words 
against God and his truth when death seems far away, and when 
there appears no danger; but when the grasp of death is upon 
the sinner, and the awful realities of eternity are opening upon 
him, then even a Voltaire begins to cry for mercy. 

Some have raised an objection against the necessity of prayer, 
on the ground that God already knows all they really need, and 
that it is therefore absurd to undertake to tell him what he al- 
ready knows. But our blessed Saviour, so far from regarding the 
omniscience of God as a reason why we should not pray, re- 
gards it as the strongest encouragement to pray, " When ye 
pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do ; for your 
Father knoweth what things ye have need of before ye ask him." 
Thus Jesus, when urging the duty of prayer, and teaching his 
disciples how to pray, uses the fact that God knows all about 
us and our wants as a strong reason and encouragement to pray. 
If we think spiritual blessings worth having, we will think them 
worth asking. If we are not in a state of mind to ask such 
blessings from God earnestly, we are not in a state to receive 
them with profit to our souls and with glory to God ; and there- 
fore he says, " For all these things will I be inquired of by the 
house of Israel to do them for them." We are apt to forget God, 
to ignore his providence, to sink into a state of practical atheism ; 
and therefore God says that the great rule upon which he acts 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 521 

in bestowing his gifts is, " Ask and ye shall receive, seek and 
ye shall find." 

Some, also have spoken of prayer as producing no effect in 
the way of securing direct blessings from God, but only as ex- 
erting a reflex influence upon the mind of the man who prays. 
This is a most dangerous and pernicious error. It tends to 
make men content if they can only secure good feelings and 
pleasant emotions in prayer, instead of looking in faith for 
direct blessings from God, and feeling deeply distressed if they 
do not obtain them. The word of God every where declares, 
that God does give the very things asked, when asked accord- 
ing to his will. Take, for example, one passage — " The effect- 
ual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias 
was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed 
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth 
by the space of three years and six months ; and he prayed 
again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth 
her fruit." (James 5 : 17, 18.) Here the effect of prayer was 
not merely upon the mind of the suppliant himself, but in an- 
swer to his prayer certain things were done that ^ would not 
have been done had he not prayed. And the inspired penman 
is careful to tell us that Elijah's success in prayer was not an 
exceptional case — did not arise from the fact that he was a 
prophet or a highly favored person, but tells us he was a man 
of like passions with ourselves. The Bible every where teaches 
us that we may get direct blessings from God by prayer. Take 
the following, which I lately met with, as an illustration of 
direct answers to prayer : 

" A Christian man, who lived in one of our large cities, was 
I'n the habit of going to one of the suburbs, for the purpose of 
preaching Christ. He had gone for a considerable length of 
time. The meeting had declined in interest and attendance, 
until only four or five were accustomed to meet. In the mean- 
time the mind of the preacher had become greatly perplexed 
on the subject of the answer to prayer. The idea that God did 
not really act in answer to the petitions of men had been 
pressed on him, and he felt in great difficulties on the subject, 



522 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

rV'hile his heart was discouraged by the state of his work. He 
resolved to set apart all the spare time of the week for prayer, 
and to ask that God might dispel his difficulties by filling the 
place of meeting with hearers on the next night of meeting. 
No extra intimation or effort whatever was made. He sought 
that by prayer which he had been unable to procure by other 
means. The night of meeting at length arrived. The accus- 
tomed hearers came first, and were surprised as, one after 
another, persons who had not thought of coming previously 
began to drop in. Soon they came in greater numbers, and 
when the preacher arrived the house was packed full ! The 
difficulties of his mind vanished, and the work went on." 

The Rev. John Kirk, of Edinburgh, says : " I well remember 
an occasion on which I and two other ministers w^ere engaged 
in holding a series of meetings in a large town in England. 
Everything that mind could devise or money effect had been 
done to secure an attendauce, and especially to increase it, and 
have real good done, and yet about the middle of the period 
the attendance and every other indication showed that the work 
was going backward, and not forward. Our hearts began to 
sink within us ; and feeling strongly, on a particular day, that 
none but God could turn the tide of affairs, two of us were led 
to set apart a special season for the presenting of our deepest 
desires on the subject to God. That very night the attendance 
was nearly doubled, inquirers came forward for conversation, 
and the work increased in vigor and success so long as we re- 
mained. Both felt that God had answered our unworthy cry, 
and will, I believe, never forget the day. 

Yes, God has positively declared that he will directly answer 
prayer, and that if we ask and receive not, it is because we ask 
amiss. It becomes, then, a most important question — What is 
acceptable prayer.^ In what way can we pray so as to secure 
the blessings we need 1 

In answering this question we would observe that no prayet- 
can be acceptable to God that is not presented through Jesus 
Christ. There can be no doubt upon the mind of an intelligent 
reader of the Scriptures, that sacrifice has always been neces- 




MIRACLE AT NAm. 



PRAVKR THROUGH CHRIST. 52^5 

sary to an acceptable approach to God, ever since man became 
a sinner. The principle upon which God has acted is that 
" without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of 
sin ;" and if man's sin is not forgiven, how can he make accept- 
able approaches to a holy God ? Abel, when he made his ac- 
ceptable approach to Jehovah had no doubt before his mind the 
atonement of Christ. He offered a victim, " the firstling of his 
flock;" and as its blood flowed forth, his faith looked forward 
to Calvary and the Lamb of God dying there. The blood- 
stained altar formed a meeting-place between him and his of- 
fended God. The innocent suffering in the room of the guilty, 
the just suffering in the room of the unjust, is the true idea of 
the atonement ; and this was kept before the mind of all accept- 
able worshipers from the first, by their daily sacrifices. 

Paul brings this out very clearly, in Heb. 9 : 24, 26 : " P'or 
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, 
which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us : nor yet that he should 
offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place 
every year with blood of others, for then must he often have 
suffered since the foundation of the world ; but now once in the 
end of the world hath he appealed to put away sin by the sac- 
rifice of himself." Here we see tliat all the sacrifices were only 
types pointing to the great sacrifice of the Son of God. None 
could approach God acceptably except through the shedding 
of blood, and none can now offer a single prayer which ^ 
God can consistently answer except through faith in Christ's 
'atoning work. Doubtless it was because the idea of atonement 
was not recognized that Cain's offering was rejected. So will 
every prayer be rejected that is not presented through Christ. 
If God receives and pardons a guilty sinner, it must be either 
through his own merits or the merits of Christ, or a mingling of 
the two. That man cannot be received on the ground of his 
own merits is evident, for merits he has none. He is altogether 
sinful — corrupt to the very centre of his being. His sins are 
piled up like huge mountains between God and him and the 
curse of the holy law is resting upon him. There can be, there- 



524 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

fore, no mingling of man's merits with Christ's, for he has none 
to mingle ; and if he had, to attempt to add to the Saviour's 
would be to insult his "finished work." 

Jesus is very emphatic in stating that prayer, to be acceptable, 
must be offered in his name. " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
name that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the 
Son." *' If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it." 
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the 
Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto ye have asked 
nothing in my name ; ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may 
be full." John 14. These are sweet and precious promises, 
but their fulfillment is all conditioned upon one thing, that we 
pray in the name of Jesus. Jesus bore the full penalty for guilty 
men upon the Cross; he bore the curse, and he exhausted the 
punishment due to their sins. Jehovah accepts of Jesus as the 
sinner's substitute, and thus a way is opened up by which he 
can be forgiven for Jesus' sake. The justice of God is satisfied 
— it does not demand two prices. Christ was made sin for us, 
in the sense that he bore the consequences of our sins. Hence, 
" God is in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not im- 
puting their trespasses unto them." They were imputed to Je- 
sus ; he suffered for them in his own body on the tree, and 
therefore the believer is presented without fault before God. 

In the light of these remarks we may see why such stress is 
laid in the Bible upon the necessity of faith in prayer. Jesus 
clearly teaches the vital importance of faith to acceptable 
prayer : " What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." "Verily I say 
unto you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do 
this that is done to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this 
mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it 
shall be done : and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, 
believing, ye shall receive." Faith, then, is needful to our be- 
ing heard in prayer, and the first act of that faith must be a per- 
sonal faith in Christ's atoning work. All faith that does not 
begin with this cannot please God. There may be faith in the 
bemg of God, in the inspiration of the Scriptures, in the faith- 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 525 

fulness of the promises ; but if there is not at the foundation 
a saving faith in Christ, it is all no better than the faith of dev- 
ils. " Thou believest there is one God ; thou doest well : the 
devils also believe and tremble." Whenever faith is spoken of 
as needful to acceptable prayer, and wherever the power of 
faith in prayer is spoken of, it must be understood that the 
groundwork of that faith is trust in the atonement of Jesus. 

And here my reader may ask me the question — Is it proper 
to tell an unbeliever to pray } I answer — Undoubtedly it is. 
It is right to call upon men to do whatever it is their duty to do. 
We regard it as right to call upon them to believe in the Lord 
Jesus, and why not to pray, seeing that the one act implies the 
other } No man can pray aright who has not believed in Jesus^ 
and no man can believe in Jesus but it will at once be said of 
him, " Behold he prayeth !" It would not be proper to tell an 
unbeliever to pray, without telling him at the same time the 
medium through which his prayers can alone be accepted. 
That would be to run the'fearful peril of teaching him to make 
a Saviour of his prayers, and rest his hopes for eternity upon a 
falsehood. The prayers of the best man that ever lived cannot 
form a ground of justification before God, much less the prayer 
of one who by his unbelief is calling God a liar. When sinners- 
are told to pray, we should at the same time preach to them 
Jesus. If this is not done, they may rest upon their prayers as 
something meritorious before God. But where Jesus is clearly 
presented, it is right to exhort the vilest sinner to pray, and like 
the publican and the dying thief, in the very act the pardoning 
love of God will fill his soul through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

A sinner, however, might pray most earnestly for years — yea, 
for his whole life, and yet not be saved, if there is no Christ in 
his prayers. He is trying to make himself better by his prayers 
— to be saved as a saint, not as a sinner — in short, he is trying 
to be saved in his mvn way ; and before such a man can be 
saved, he must yield to God's plan of saving sinners, or God 
must make a great exception in his case, and yield to save him 
on account of his prayers. This God never can do, for there 
is " none other name given under heaven among men by which 
we can be saved but the name of Jesus." 



526 THE world's hope. 

Prayer is not to be regarded in the light of a mere duty to be 
performed, the performance of which in some way recommends 
us to God. It should rather be regarded as a precious, blood- 
bought privilege, conferred upon us for Jesus' sake. It is to be 
feared that many have got to look upon prayer as if it were con- 
ferring some favor upon God, rather than an infinite and gra- 
cious privilege which God confers upon us. They think of 
prayer as something that is to please God, instead of regarding 
it as a wonderful condescension for God to listen to such guilty 
creatures at all. Suppose a wise and rich man were to give to 
a poor beggar the privilege of coming to him at any time for 
the supply of his wants, and for counsel in his difficulties. Sup- 
pose that when that poor creature comes with greater frequency 
and regularity than common, he were to become proud, and to 
assume airs of superiority, and speak as if he by his frequent 
petitions were placing his benefactor under .great obligations — 
how utterly absurd all this would look ! Still more absurd is the 
conduct of those who think of merit in their prayers — who hope 
to please God by the regularity of their devotions. God can 
only be well pleased with a sinner through the full atonement 
of his Son ; and the privilege of prayer, and all the precious 
blessings which we obtain through prayer, are ours only as the 
purchase of his sufferings and death. 

We should delight in the exercise of this blessed privilege at 
all times. There are too many who make prayer their last re- 
sort. When plunged into a sea of troubles, when their pathway 
is completely hedged up, when every resource of human wisdom 
has failed, and they are driven to their wit's ends, then they 
will come to God. Oh, what a condescending God, that will 
listen to us at all under such circumstances ! Yet he does, and 
gives us a special promise — '' Call upon me in the day of trouble, 
and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify my name." But 
what dishonor they cast upon God, and what great injury they 
inflict upon their own souls who only come to God in the dark 
hours of their extremity ! He says, " Acknowledge me in all 
thy ways, and I will direct thy steps." And thus, in all our af- 
fairs, the most minute as well as the greatest, we have the op- 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 527 

portunity of presenting our requests to God, with the assurance 
of direction and guidance from infinite Wisdom. Oh, how 
blind to their own mercies are those who do not avail them- 
selves of such a privilege ! To have the divine ear ever open 
to us, so that we can tell to the Holy One troubles of the heart 
that we could not communicate to our dearest earthly friend; 
to have one tender and sympathizing friend to whom we can go 
by day or by night, and whose hand is as able as it is willing to 
help us; to be able with each returning day to cast our cares 
upon the Great Governor of the universe, assured that he will 
make all things work for our good, and that the future, however 
dark and misty to us, will be full of his goodness, — all this lays 
us under such obligations of gratitude and praise that eternity 
alone can fulfill. 

What a blessed example of prayer in all things have we in 
the Lord Jesus ! Everything he said and did was connected 
with prayer. Before choosing his disciples — when preparing for 
his transfiguration — at his baptism — before working his notable 
miracles — at the grave of his friend — when taking farewell of 
his disciples — in the garden of Gethsemane — and on the Cross, 
in his last dying moments, he prayed for his murderers. Whole 
nights, amid the cold dews of the mountains, he devoted to 
prayer. In all this he is our holy example, ^e has left us a 
bright pattern that we should follow his steps. Like him, let 
us get alone in some secret place, where no eye but God's can 
behold us, and where, in the holy boldness and familiarity of 
faith, we can pour out our whole hearts before our heavenly 
Friend. Jesus says, " Thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy 
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father who 
seeth in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward 
thee openly." He illustrated this principle by his owu example. 
He always chose some quiet,.retiredspot to pour out his prayers 
on behalf of a guilty world. In public prayer the mind is apt 
to be distracted by thoughts of the presence of others, and of 
what they may think of us ; but in secret we feel that we have 
to do with God alone. We feel that the whole soul is laid bare to 
his inspection, and that there is nothing that we can conceal. 



528 THE world's hope. 

No man can lead the life of a Christian who neglects secreL 
prayer, and the frequency with which he comes before God 
alone may be taken as a very good indication of the prosperity 
or declension of his soul's spiritual condition. 

We should mark with gratitude of heart the answers to 
prayer which God gives us. Here we often shamefully fail. 
We come before God with pressing importunity and present 
our requests, and when in a remarkable manner God interferes 
and works out for us a deliverance, we fail to recognize his 
hand, and often in the unbelief of our hearts feel as if the 
blessing would have come in the natural course of events. How 
very wicked and dishonoring to God is all this ! To be loud in 
calling upon God in our troubles, and dumb when his deliver- 
ing hand appears, is to act like the ungrateful lepers whom 
Christ cured — " Were there not ten cleansed .? But where are 
the nine.?" We should be as loud in our praise as we are in 
our supplication. We should make every new answer to prayer 
an incentive to increased prayerfulness, and a means of 
strengthening our faith in God for the future. 

In all our approaches to the throne of grace let us never for- 
get the Great Intercessor. " If any man sin, he hath an Advo- 
cate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." In his great 
intercession the gracious Saviour is just continuing in heaven 
the work he delighted in on earth. From his exalted throne 
in the heavens he looks down upon some poor, weak, tempted 
disciple, that Satan is seeking to sift as wheat, like a Lot in 
Sodom, encompassed with fiery trials, and he prays for him that 
his faith fail not. He looks upon some doubting disciple, whose 
mind is oppressed with a constitutional gloom, and in answer 
to his inttrcession the Comforter is sent, and he is " made glad 
according to the years in which he has seen evil." He sees 
another in the furnace of affliction, tempest tossed, driven by 
the fierce winds of outward trials, and he intercedes for him 
that he may come out of his trials refined and purified, and able 
to sing, " It is good for me that I have been afflicted." These 
prayers of our best Friend cannot fail. The Father hears him 
always, and those whose case he undertakes may rest assured 
that their suit shall not fail in the Court of Heaven. 



PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST. 529 

Let me exhort the reader to aim at a constant prayerfulness 
of spirit — a sweet fellowship of the soul with God. This is the 
most desirable frame of mind, and thrice happy is the soul that 
becomes its possessor. On this point the holy and heavenly- 
minded Howe says : " Continued commerce with God, accord- 
ing to the tenor of that league and covenant struck with Him, 
how pleasant and delightful it is ! To be a friend of God, an 
associate of the Most High, a domestic, no more a stranger, a 
foreigner, but of his own household ; to live wholly upon the 
plentiful provisions, and under the happy order and govern- 
ment of his family ; to have a heart to seek all from Him and 
lay out all for him ! To be so taken up in seeking his kingdom 
and righteousness as freely to leave it to Him to add the other 
things as He sees fit — to take no thought for the morrow — to 
have a heart framed herein according to divine precept ; not to 
be encumbered or kept in anxious suspense by the thoughts or 
fears of what may fall out, by which many suffer the same afflic- 
tion a thousand times over which God would have them suffer 
but once ; a firm repose on the goodness of Providence, and its 
firm and unerring wisdom ; a steady persuasion that our heav- 
enly Father knows what we have need of, and what is fittest for 
us to want, to suffer or enjoy. How delightful a life do these 
make ! and how agreeable to one born of God and heir of all 
things, as being joint heirs with Christ, and claiming by that 
large grant that says all things ai-e yours, only that in our minor- 
ity it is better to have a wise Father's allowance than to be our 
own carvers." 

"One hour with Thee, my God ! when daylight breaks 

Over a world thy guardian care has kept, 
When the fresh soul from soothing slumber wakes 

To praise the love that watched me while I slept: 
When with new strength my blood is bounding free, 

That first, best, sweetest hour I'll give to Thee. 

" One hour with Thee when busy day begins 
, Her never-ceasing round of bustling care — 

When I mnst meet with toil, and pain, and sins, 
And through them all thy holy Cross must bear :" 



53° THE world's hope. 

Oh then to arm me for the strife, to be 

Faithful to death, I'll kneel an hour to Thee ! 

" One hour with Thee when rides the glorious sua 
High in mid-heaven, and panting nature feels 

Lifeless and overpowered, and man has done 

For one short hour with urging life's swift wheels : 

In that deej^pause my soul from care shall flee. 

To make that hour of rest one hour with Thee. 

" An hour with Thee when saddened twilight flings 

Her soothing charm o'er lawn, and vale, and grove> 
When there breathes up from all created things 
The sweet enthralling sense of thy deep love ; 
And when its softening power descends on me. 
My swelling heart shall spend one hour with Thee. 

" One hour with Thee, my God ! when softly night 
Climbs the high heaven with solemn step and slow | 

When thy sweet stars, unutterably bright, 
Are telling forth thy praise to men below : 

Oh then, while far from earth my thoughts WQuld. flee 

I'll spend in prayer one joyful hour with 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE christian's MOTTO. 
" For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil. I: 21. 

Pascal says, " Man is a reed, the frailest in nature, but he is 
a reed that thinks." It is the glory of man that he can think; 
it is his curse that he too often thinks wrong. He too often 
fixes his mind upon some worldly object of ambition, and, con- 
centrating his thoughts upon it, makes its attainment the chief 
object of his life. As God alone can satisfy the wants of an 
immortal soul, the result is bitter disappointment, even where 
the highest success has crowned the worldly man's efforts. 
Hence, one of this class, who possessed rank, and fortune, and 
wit, exclaimed: " I am tired of the world, its politics, its pursuits, 
and its pleasures." And a distinguished lady of fashion, in 
France, when writing to her niece, sajd, *'Alas! that I cannot 
give you my experience! — that I could only show you the 
weariness of soul by which the great are devoured! I have 
been young and beautiful ; I have tasted many pleasures, and 
have been universally beloved ; at a more advanced age I have 
passed years in the intercourse of talent and wit, and I solemnly 
protest to you that all conditions leave a frightful void." 

But how very different it is when the soul, as is the case 
of Paul, chooses a noble and worthy object in life, and sayS' 
„ For me to live is Christ." Such a soul has a steady and per- 
petual serenity, even in the most trying circumstances. Wash- 
ington, amid his greatest discouragements, Headly Vicars amid 
the roar of battle, Havelock, amid the horrid scenes of the 
Indian rebellion, were all serenely calm and happy, because 
they could say " For me to live is Christ." 

One of the old fathers said, "To seek God is to desire hap- 
piness, and to find him is that happiness." At the most trying 
and troubled time of Luther's life, he said: "Property I have 

53^ 



532 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

none, and desire none. Fame and honor, if I have had them, the 
destroyer has taken that away. One thing only remains — a fee- 
ble body, worn down by constant labor ; and if they take this 
away, they may, perhaps, make me poorer by an hour or two of 
life. It is enough for me that I have my sweet Redeemer and 
Saviour, my Lord Jesus Christ, to whom I will sing as long as 
I live." Oh, how glorious becomes life when devoted to such 
an aim and filled with such a trust ! 

Paul had not always such a noble object of life before him. 
Nothing but the mighty grace of God could have made him 
adopt such a glorious motto. He had been brought up a self- 
righteous Pharisee — a bitter bigot. This spirit led him to stand 
an approving witness of the murder of the holy Stephen and to 
gaze with unrelenting hate upon his dying sufferings. His per- 
secuting zeal against the followers of Jesus far exceeded that 
of other persecutors, till his very name became a terror among 
the churches. Good men regarded him as a fearful pestilence, 
and no doubt some wondered why God permitted such a wretch 
to live. , But see the mighty power of sovereign grace ! No 
thunderbolt comes from the hand of Omnipotence to destroy 
this man of blood. Justice does not arrest him and shut him 
up in hell. God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his 
ways as our ways. 

God had given Paul mighty powers of mind — had made him 
as one has said, " One of the greatest of all the great men that 
ever the Great God xiiade." And these great powers are to be 
employed for the propagation of the gospel. The tender voice 
of Jesus speaks to him : " Why persecutest thou me V Oh, 
how that " me " must have touched hi§ heart ! "' I am Jesus, 
whom thou persecutest." No words of bitterness are used, no 
threats of terrible vengeance ; even this cruel and bloody man is 
addressed by the Saviour in words of melting love. Nor was it in 
vain. His heart of stone is melted — his whole nature is changed-- 
his whole being transformed into the image of the Saviour he for- 
merly hated. From that time love to Christ became the ruling 
passion of his nature. When work was to be done for Christ no 
dangers could intimidate him, no threats could appall him, no 



THE CHRISTIAN S MOTTO. 



533 



opposition cause him to waver for a moment in his course. 
Sufferings, the bare recital of which makes our blood run cold, 
were by him gloried in when endured in the cause of Christ. 
The rage of earth and hell could not turn him aside for a mo- 
ment from his great life-work, that of glorifying Christ. " For 
me to live is Christ." 

We may see from this how selfishness may be destroyed in 
the human soul. It is by faith in Christ. Before this, as a pious 
author has said, " he lives for self. His estimate of everything 
is its bearing upon self; the color which he casts over every- 
thing is one derived from self. Self is the horizon whick 
limits all his views. He is not like a man looking round on ? 
noble landscape, and forgetting himself in the beauty of the 
wide expanse ; but he is like a man carrying a mirror with him, 
into which he is continually looking, that he may see and admire 
himself, so that every object is seen in connection with self, and 
is admired as it helps to set off self." 

Now, to come to Christ is a death-blow to self. Selfishness 
leads man to wish to be his own Saviour, and proudly to resent 
any hint of his inability to do it. But the very first thing the 
Holy Spirit does is to smite down this lofty opinion of himself, 
to empty him of all dependence on self, to show him that there 
is nothing in himself but utter vileness. True, this is as yet 
but a negative work. The man has become convinced that he 
cannot save himself, but he has not yet learned who can save 
him. His heart is in some measure emptied of false motives, 
but it is not yet filled with the true motive power of a holy life. 
But when by faith Jesus is taken as a complete Saviour, the 
soul is at once filled with a new life — Christ takes the place of 
self. This new moving power controls the man, as self used to 
do before. He has now no dependence on self, but all confi- 
dence in Christ. " Nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me," is the language 6i his heart now. 

I lately saw an anecdote illustrative of the above truths. A 
poor negro slave in the West Indies was led, under the preach- 
ing of the gospel, to feel himself a lost, undone sinner. He 
had been a very wicked man, drinking and swearing and giving 



534 THE world's hope. 

full vent to his vile passions ; yet the same night in which he 
was convicted of sin he believed in Jesus, and at once found 
peace. His master was awakened under the same sermon ; but 
as he had lived outwardly what men regard as a very good 
moral life, his proud heart rejected the finished work of Christ, 
and set about trying to save himself. This went on for about a 
month, and the poor Pharisee was becoming more wretched, 
when he resolved to have a conversation with the happy aegro 
and the following accordingly took place : 

"Sam, you are happy!" 

" Yes, massa, I be," he said, with a face beaming with joy. 

("Well, Sam," said the master, " I have come here this morn- 
ing to find out what it is that makes you happy. You know, 
Sam, you and I first began to think about God the same night,^ 
nrore than a month ago ; and you, though you were such a bad 
fellow before, seemed to find peace at once, while I, who have 
always been what the world calls a good man, have been going 
on in darkness and sorrow ever since, and it seems to me I only 
grow worse. It is a great mystery, Sam, and I don't under- 
stand it." 

" Oh, massa," said the poor slave, "it ain't no mystery at all 
to me, 'cause you see dat's de berry reason. Sam was such a 
bad fellow, and hab on such a dirty ragged blanket, dat when 
God called him he knew it wasn't fit to go 'fore God in, 
so he threw it right away, and den God put on him de robe of 
Christ's righteousness ; and den, ob course, when Sam had dat 
on he couldn't help being glad and full of peace. But massa 
hab on a real good coat, and he did not like to throw dat away, 
for he thought if it was fixed up a little it would do to gir 'fci^ 
God. So when he sees a dirty spot he says, ' Oh, I'll wash dat !' 
and when he sees a hole he says, 'Oh, I'll patch dat!' and so 
he goes on, trying to make his old coat do; but it nebber will, 
for God won't receive massa in dat coat, no matter how much 
he fix it up. But if massa will only throw dat coat away, and 
let God put de robe ob Christ's righteousness on him, den mas- 
sa can go in 'fore God and not be 'fraid, but be happy like poor,, 
bad Sam." 



THE CHRISTIAN S MOTTO. 



535 



The slave paused, and looked at his master, as if to see the 
effect of this bold language. A smile broke over the master. 

" You are right, Sam !" he exclaimed, as he grasped the rough 
black hand held out to him : " I /ia7fe been trying to fix up my 
old coat, but, thank God, I am done with it now. I'll have on 
the robe of Christ's righteousness as well as you, and I see that 
will bring me peace and joy. God bless you, Sam ; you have 
taught me a precious truth." « 

The experimental knowledge of Christ, which this simple 
faith imparts, enables the believer to say, " For me to live is 
Christ." As the body will die without food, so will the soul die 
without the knowledge of Jesus. He is the true Bread of Life ; 
for " this is eternal life : to know thee, the only true God, and 
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." To know Jesus as a per- 
sonal Saviour to me, to love him, to hold personal communion 
with him every day and hour of my life, to meditate upon his 
loving words, his holy works, his tender and affectionate ways, 
his spotless life, and to keep up a personal intercouse with him, 
as with the dearest friend, this is to have spiritual life, and to 
have it more abundantly. 

When a godly minister was upon his death-bed some of his 
friends quoted texts to him which spoke of the faithfulness of 
God, when he remarked, " Texts like these do not so much com- 
fort me as ' God so loved the world that he gave his only begot- 
ten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but 
have everlasting life.' Plain doctrinal statements, exhibitiug 
the heart of God, are more sustaining to me than mere prom- 
ises. I like to get into contact with the living person." "I feel," 
says another, "that nothing can do me good but personal con- 
tact with the living person of the Lord Jesus. Looking at sys- 
tems and creeds, doctrines and duties, may be all very well in 
its own place ; but if I am to be a healthy, fruit-bearing Christ- 
ian, I must look steadily and confidently to the Great High 
Priest who assumed our nature to bear our sins and win our 
confidence." 

Though it is not our privilege, like the disciples, to walk with 
Jesus in person — to hear his voice — like Thomas, to thrust our 



536 THE world's hope. 

hand into his side, and look upon the print of the nails in his 
hands, — yet, by that faith which overleaps the barriers of time 
and space, we can still walk with Him " whom having not seen, 
we love." In his presence we can enjoy the sweetest pleasures 
that earth knows, and possess, as one expresses it, *' a little 
heaven to go to heaven in." We can still pillow the weary, 
aching head upon his loving bosom, and find in him a very pres- 
ent help in every trouble. 

If we adopt the motto, " For me to live is Christ," we shall 
employ all our powers to glorify Chri t. We are not our own, 
but are bought with the precious blood of Jesus. It is our 
solemn duty, as well as our joyful privilege, to consecrate every 
power which we possess to him. Whether we have got great 
powers or little has nothing to do with the question. What- 
ever our powers may be, and whatever our sphere, we must be 
found glorifying Christ as the great business of our lives. We 
must ask ourselves the question — How would Jesus act were he 
in my situation ? and his holy example will stimulate us to 
pray, and act, and work, and live for the glory of God in all 
things. We will hold forth the word of truth on every proper 
occasion. 

A pious lady, who had been very successful in the conversion 
of souls, was asked what was the secret of her power, when 
she replied : *' Whenever an individual comes within the circle 
of my influence, I at once set my heart upon saying and doing 
what I can to secure his salvation. As soon as a fit opportuni- 
ty occurs I converse with them, meanwhile so ordering my 
whole deportment that what I say may not be contradicted by 
what 1 do.' 

At a revival in a large city no less than twenty persons were 
converted who said that they had been brought under the 
sound of the word by the kind solicitations of one sister, and 
that but for her they would never have attended. One person 
she solicited ten times before success attended her efforts. But 
a soul was saved ! and oh, what a blessed reward will be that 
thought through all eternity! 

If we live near to Jesus he will give us heavenly wisdom, so 



THE christian's MOTTO. 337 

as to speak a word in season. " When wisdom entereth into 
thy heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion 
shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee." Filled with 
the Spirit of Christ, " you will open your mouth with wisdom, 
and on your tongue will be the law of kindness." Such persons 
carry a holy influence about them, and it is impossible to come 
in contact with them without having the great realities of 
eternity brought near to us. The secret of the Lord whom 
they fear is with them, and there is an aptness and an appro- 
priateness in their words that give them power. 

A scoffing infidel said to a pious youth, " How great is the 
God you worship .?" " So great," was the reply, " that he 
fills immensity, and yet so small that he dwells in every heart 
that is humble and contrite." The infidel stood confounded in 
the awful presence of the God he had insulted. 

John Wesley once saw a man in a fearful rage against one of 
his fellow-men, and uttering awful threats of vengeance. He 
asked the angry man to forgive the wrong done him. " Never I" 
was the furious replv. " When I receive an injury I never for- 
give it!" "Then," said Mr. Wesley, with great solemnity,"! 
trust you yourself have never committed a sin !" It was a 
bolt of truth from the hand of God. The man's sins came roll- 
ing up to his remembrance like great surging billows. He 
stood humbled in the presence of his offended God. 

Let us regard it as an infinite honor to be permitted to work 
for the Saviour. I believe it is John Newton who uses the 
beautiful figure of God calling three angels near his throne, 
and directing one of them to sit upon his throne, another to oc- 
cupy a pulpit, and the third to sweep the streets of London. 
They would not quarrel about who was to go to the humbler 
position ; they would be content to be where God placed them, 
and would rejoice to do all that they could for the glory of 
God. 

We come now to consider the second part of the Christian's 
motto : 

"to die is gain." 
Death is a physical fact that all feel to be inevitable. The 
history of our race is that of generation after generation chas- 



S3^ THE world's hope. 

ing one another to the grave. We lately saw a furious snow- 
storm sweeping across the angry lake ; and as the dark waters 
swallowed the fast-falling flakes, how like, we thought, to the 
way in which the grave engulphs the passing generations ! As 
we have seen the fire leaping and crackling over our vast 
prairies, not sparing a single blade of grass, so death makes a 
clean sweep over the vast fields of humanity. Death has been 
called the " King of Terrors," and he has converted our fair 
earth into a hugh sepulchre, a hideous Golgotha. No skill, no 
talent, no wealth, no power of position can resist the attacks of 
this fell destroyer. We must all feel the terrible grasp of this 
foe upon us soon, and be caught up in his skeleton arms. 

Under these circumstances, how can death be gain to any oiae ? 
To the'impenitent sinner it is loss — all loss; but to the be- 
liever it becomes all gain. The dark valley of death had for 
ages been entered by the generations of men, and none had 
ever returned to tell us what lay beyond its gloomy shadows. 
But Jesus passed through its mysterious gloom ; he trod every 
inch of the way, and he returns not only to tell us of the world 
of immortal bliss that lies beyond, but offers himself as a guide 
through the gloomy vale. The resurrection of Christ was a 
glorious earnest of our triumph over death, if we are believ- 
ers in him. All uncertainty is taken away from the mind of 
Christ's people in regard to the future, and they no longer 
crouch in trembling dread before the destroyer. They know 
that death to them will be gain. It is for the infidel and the 
impenitent to tremble and turn pale when death poises his 
spear, and in a shiver of dread to ask, " To what unknown 
world am I drifting.?" But the Christian can say with triumph, 
"The Lord is risen!" and that assures him that to him death is 
robbed of its power, and he hears his Lord say, " Because I 
live, ye shall live also." 

" He will not be in glory and leave them behind." In his 
glorified humanity he is in the heavens, and he will not leave 
those who are dear to him as the apple of his eye, who were the 
purchase of his own precious blood, to be forever under th© 
power of death. He joined his Godhead to our humanity, and 



THE CHRISTIAN S MOTTO. 539 

therefore our dust will be precious in his sight: and 'vhile all 
power is committed to his hands he will not permit the grave to 
triumph over his people, but will fill their lips with the song of 
victory — " O death, where is thy sting ! O grave, where is thy 
victory!" 

Oh ! the sweet delight of that untroubled calm which the 
presence of Christ gives to a death-bed ! The Christian may 
be placed amid the most trying circumstances. His death-bed 
may be a tattered pallet of straw, in some lonely garret, ne- 
glected and forsaken by the world ; or he may be, like Judson, 
while tossing upon the great deep, far from loved and loving 
friends ; but he is infinitely more happy than the godless kings 
and nobles, amid their greatest splendor. " For him to die is 
gain." 

How sweetly these truths supported Paul amid his dying 
scenes ! He is a poor prisoner at Rome, in the hands of cruel 
and relentless enemies. They have condemned him to die by 
a violent death, as a public criminal. I see him led out from 
the gates of the imperial city, the enemies of the gospel which 
he preached so faithfully scowling upon him with malignant ha- 
tred as he passes. He is poor, deserted, alone, so far as the 
human eye can see, but bands of holy angels hover around 
him> and the Lord of angels bends upon him a loving, sympa- 
thizing eye, and makes ready for him a crown and a throne. 
He ascends the scaffold, lays his head upon the block, the axe 
of the executioner descends, and while his head rolls in one 
direction and his body in another, his immortal soul ascends on 
high, singing, " I have fought a good fight, I have finished mj 
course, I have kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness !" 

And this experience that death is gain is not confined to Paul, 
or to a few special cases of favored individuals. The language 
of the New Testament shows that it was the general experience 
of all believers. " We know that if our earthly house of this 
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Through Christ 
they knew that they had the pardon of sin, and sin is the sting 



54° THE world's hope. 

of death. The sting being gone, they felt that they had noth- 
ing to fear--the monster death could do them no harm. 

An old minister of the gospel, with a body worn out in the 
service of his divine Master, was one day seen by his family 
looking very solemn. His son said, " Father, are you afraid to 
die .?" The answer was, " No, Samuel, I have been prepared 
for death for thirty years, and will I be afraid now?" 

Another minister, after preaching earnestly on the Sabbath, 
awoke on Monday morning suffering very much with his throat. 
The difficulty increasing during the day, his medical adviser 
was sent for, who after examination told him that if he had any 
matters requiring his attention he must settle them at once, for 
he could not live more than a few hours. The man of God 
clasped his hands, and raising his eyes to heaven exclaimed, 
" Oh, my gracious God ! I did not knoAv that I was so near 
home !" 

Yes, this world the Christian regards as not his home. He is 
here a pilgrim and a stranger ; but when death comes he has a 
good hofne to go to. It is his Father's house — the place pre- 
pared for him by his gracious Saviour; and as he thinks of the 
serene glories of that home, he says, " I had rather depart and 
be with Christ, which is far better." 

See that brave soldier, sick and wounded, and but the rem- 
nant of what he was when he went forth at the call of his 
country. You meet him on the cars, and his dim eye lights up 
with joyful lustre, as he says, " I am now going home." And 
as the train nears the place, and sweeping round a curve, reveals 
to him the old homestead, and he soon feels himself in the 
warm embrace of father, mother, sister and brother, how does 
he forget all the sufferings and dangers of the long campaign ! 
We have seen a vessel return from a long voyage. Her passen- 
gers and crew, as she nears the harbor, gaze eagerly, as they 
lean over the bulwarks, upon the anxious crowd that lines the 
wharf. Each eye earnestly searches for the face of some loved 
one. At length they reach the shore, and are pressed to warm 
and loving hearts, and however long and perilous the voyage, 
all is forgotten in the bliss of this joyous welcome. 



THE CHRISTIAN S MOTTO. 54I 

So the believer finds his death a gain, for the worst that death 
can do to him is to take him home. Oh, what a good home it 
is ! A building of God ! — the home of Jesus and the holy and 
choice spirits of the universe ! — to be forever with the Lord^ 
and with those of whom the world was not worthy ! When the 
struggles of earth are all over, when the conflict with sin and 
corruption has come to an end, then to enter that home where 
all that is pure becomes forever permanent, and to join that 
faultless congregation of sinless ones, fires the soul with the 
glorious prospect. The description of heaven given in the 
Bible is a gathering up of the most splendid figures, to convey 
to us some faint conception of the city of God : its foundation 
garnished with precious stoftes, its walls jasper, its streets gold, 
its gates pearls, its watchmen angels ; the thro'he of God and 
the Lamb in the midst of it, from beneath which issues the 
river of life, with the tree of life growing on its banks. There 
no tempests rage, no cold benumbs nor heat scorches. The 
iron rod of oppression is broken — the last shout of battle has 
expired — destruction has forever come to an end ; and there,, 
amid the raptures of the heavenly song — amid the noontide 
blaze of the divine perfections, the thrice-happy soul will 
praise God while being lasts and immortality endures. 
There, best of all, there shall be no sin. The knowledge of 
God fills the minds of the redeemed, his love fills their hearts, 
and they are "like him, for they see him as he is." 

In the triumphant death of the Christian we see the exceed- 
ing value of Christ's atoning work. It is the Great Peace- 
maker, the Prince of Life, and the compassionate High Priest 
that gives us victory over the last enemy. In the believer's dy- 
ing experience we see the blessedness of Christ's work set forth 
— not in creeds, not in theories, not in books or sermons, but in 
soul-thrilling facts. The believer's calmness and peace amid 
the sufferings and partings of his closing scenes, his last song 
of joy, his beaming countenance, his fearless look into that eter- 
nity on the verge of which he stands, his firm tread as he enters 
the dark valley, his parting counsels and his last prayer, all 
make a deep and powerful impression upon the thoughtful mind 



542 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

as to the unspeakable importance of a personal interest in 
Christ. Such death-beds are a practical proof of the reality of 
religion. They rebuke the infidel and the gainsayer, and say to 
all, " Prepare to meet thy God !" 

We should learn in the light of this subject to curb our sor- 
row for the death of loved friends who have died in Jesus. It 
is true that to mourn for these loved ones is not sinful. When 
those who have been for many years the joy and solace of our 
lives are taken away, it may be like the savage or the Stoic to 
remain unmoved, but not like the Christian. God intends that 
he should feel the stroke deeply. " For us they sicken and for 
us they die." The weeping Jesus at the grave of his friend 
tells us it is not wrong to mourn. When the good are taken 
away earth is left poorer, and we cry, " Help, Lord, for the 
godly man ceaseth!" When the holy Stephen was taken we 
are told that " devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and 
made great lamentation over him." 

But there is a great difference between mourning and 77iur- 
muring. We have seen some professing Christians exhibit un- 
der such trials "the sorrow of the world, that worketh death." 
They conducted themselves like the worldling who has no 
hope. All holy recognition of God's loving hand, all gentle 
submission to his will, all gratitude for the many mercies left, 
all patient waiting upon Sovereign Love, was lost sight of in a 
tempest of selfish sorrow. Let us think of the great gain which 
death has brought to our loved ones. Do your eyes fill with 
tears and your lips quiver as you look down into the gloomy 
grave } That is natural. But instead of looking down, look 
up. See the dear one walking by the river of life, gazing upon 
the glories of God and the Lamb, and drinking of the stream 
that makes glad the city of God! 

If you had the power, would you bring them back to this 
sorrowful world } Would you take the crown from their heads, 
and place them again amid the cares and snares of earth } Oh, 
no ! you cannot be so selfish ! Rather rejoice in their gain. 
They cannot come to you, but you can go to them. They 
are not lost, but gone before. 



THE christian's MOTTO. 543 

*• Jesus, thy home is mine ! 

And I, thy Father's child, 
And hopes and joys divine ; 

This world's a weary wild : 
I'm going home ! 

"Home ! — Oh, how soft and sweet 

It thrills upon the heart ! 
Home !— where the children meet, 

And never, never part : 

I'm going home ! 

*' And as the desert wide, 

The wilderness I see. 
Lord Jesus, 1 confide 

My trembling heart to thee : 
I'm going home ! 

•' While severing every tie 

That holds me from the goal, 
This, this can satisfy 

The craving of the soul : 

I'm going home ! 

Ah! gently, genlly lead 

Along the painful way , 
Bid every word and deed. 

And every look to say : 

I'm going home !" 



CHAPTER X. 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 



'♦ Behold now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day 
of salvation." 2 Cor. 6: 2. 

A day of salvation for lost sinners ! There is something 
musical and delightful in the sound of the very word, Salvation f 
In a world which sin has made a great " Bridge of Sighs," and 
where sounds of suffering roll up and around us, it is delightful 
to listen to Heaven's declaration of deliverance, both present 
and future — from the condemnation and the power of sin now 
and from the consequences of sin hereafter. The simple an- 
nouncement of such a salvation from God should turn the sighs 
and complaints of earth unto songs of joy and gratitude. It 
should banish from among men all murmuring against God and 
his government, all unbelief and distrust of his love, all cling- 
ing of the heart's affections to vile and perishable objects, and 
transform our sinful, rebellious race into a holy, loving, obedi- 
ent family of "sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty." In. 
deed, whenever it is honestly received this is its blessed effect- 
It changes the aspect of society wherever it finds a lodgement, 
transforming and renewing the basest of human beings, leveling 
in the dust the dungeon of oppression, breaking the iron rule of 
tyranny, and raising the degraded sons of lust to the dignity of 
"sons of God." 

Let us draw the reader's attention to a .few of the chief char- 
acteristics of this salvation. It is 2. fire salvation. It is with- 
out money and without price. It is favor shown freely to the 
undeserving. It comes to the worst sinner in the world — salva- 
tion. It is God's unspeakable gift, which all may receive, but 
upon which none had any claim ; and yet it is a strange feature 
of our depravity that this very freeness is the chief reason why 
men reject it. The great controvcrs- of the world with God 

' 544 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 545 

has been to do something to merit eternal life. The great 
prominent feature of all false religions is, that they all bring a 
price in their hands, with which to buy salvation. The great 
cause of the darkness of mind, the anguish of spirit, the sleep- 
less nights and miserable days of many honest inquirers after 
salvation, is that they are not willing to take it for nothing ! 

I lately met with a conversation which took place between a 
minister of the gospel and a sick lady who was anxious about 
the state of her soul, that will illustrate this point : 

Ministei'. — " You say, Mrs. A , that you believe in the 

Lord Jesus Christ.?" 

Mi's. A. — " Yes, sir ; I believe every word that is said about 
him In the Old and New Testaments." 

Minister. — " But I rather think you do not believe all that 
is there said about Christ." 

Mrs. A. — "And why do you think so, sir.? Why have you 
such a suspicion .?" 

Mi7iister. — "Because if you truly believed in Jesus Christ, 
and in every word that is said about him in the Scriptures, the 
result would be salvation, pardon, and peace with God. But 
it is quite the contrary of this with you : you are awfully afraid 
of God ! — an evidence that you are not looking at God in the 
face of Jesus Christ; you are mourning, repenting, and bitterly 
lamenting sin, and earnestly crying for mercy, and yet you say 
you have no evidence of being heard — that your prayers, like 
stones thrown into the air, only fall back upon you with terror ! 
Are you not trying to make yourself good and fit to meet God 
by your own repentance, instead of throwing yourself, just as 
you are, upon Christ } And this is the reason why conscience 
upbraids you ; for, indeed, you are only increasing your guilt, 
instead of taking it away. You are not truly believing and 
trusting in Jesus." 

Mrs. A. — " Oh, sir, I tell you again that I firmly believe in 
Christ, the Son of God, and that no poor sinner can be saved 
without him ; and I am striving and praying daily and hourly 
that he may save me." 

Minister. — "Well, Mrs. A. , you are praying and striving 



546 THE world's hope. 

daily and hourly that he may save you ; but are you willing to 
be saved without your praying and striving ? Are you willing 
to be saved on his own terms — simply by faith in his blood ? 
You must 'believe and be saved,' and then pray and strive be- 
cause you are saved." 

Mrs. A. — " But, Oh ! how can such a wicked wretch as I am 
be saved without fervent prayer and striving to repent before 
God r 

Minister. — " Your fervent prayers and struggling will never 
save you. Jesus only can do this ; for it is written, ' He hath 

by himself purged away our sins.' Now, Mrs. A , I want 

you to think most seriously on what I have just said. You 
said you believed truly in Jesus Christ, and in every word that 
is said about him in the Old and New Testaments. Then you 
must believe that Christ can save unto the uttermost all who 
come unto him, even the chief of sinners, and that faith in his 
blood saves the soul." 
Jfr^. ^.— " Yes, I do." 

Minister. — " And you believe in the Saviour's blood .''" 
Mrs. A. — "Certainly I do." 

Minister. — " Then you believe it can save you V 
Here was a pause. At last the answer came slowly: 
Mrs. ^.—"Yes, I do." 

Minister. — " Then your faith has saved you, — has it not .?" 
Another long pause. Finally she put the inquiry : 
Mrs. A — " And is that salvation in a Saviour's blood V 
Minister. — "Certainly it is, if you truly believe as you say.'" 
And here came another most solemn pause. At length, lift- 
ing her eyes and hands towards heaven, her bosom heaving 
with deep emotion, and her eyes filled with tears, she exclaimed: 
" Oh, now I see it ! Blessed be God ! Now I see that I can 
be saved for 7tothing f I believed, but never till now did I so 
see the completeness of that satisfaction which Christ has made 
for my sin — that I have nothing to do for my salvation but to 
believe ! Oh, sir, let me say to you that this moment a burden 
has rolled from my soul ! Blessed Jesus ! And is this salva- 
tion in thy blood ? How blind I have been these many years,. 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 547 

to imagine that I would have to pray so fervently, repent so 
bitterly, and keep myself so pure from sin ! And how blind 
those have been who taught me that I would have to do these 
things before God would accept me ! Now I see that simple 
faith in that atoning blood can save any sinner, and save fully 
and freely — that it can save me ! Oh ! then I am saved ! — saved 
FOR NOTHING ! Glory ! glory to God for this!" 

Shortly after she was called to pass through the valley and 
the shadow of death, and among her last words to her husband 
were, " I have found my Saviour, and am now going home to 
heaven — saved for nothing !" 

It is this attempting to do something to save ourselves — to do 
something to add to Christ's work, as if it were not complete, 
that is proving the utter ruin of so many souls. 

" 'Tis finished all ! Ah, yes, indeed ! 

All finished — every jot ! 
Poor sinner, this is all you need : 

Now tell me, is it not ? 
Come, weary, working, burdened one, — 

Yea, come ! — why toil you so ? 
Oh, cease your doing ! — all was done 

By Christ, long, long ago. 

" Until to Jesus' work you cling. 

Just by a simple faith. 
Your doing is a deadly thing — 

Your ' doing ' ends in death ! 
Then cast your deadly doing down ; 

Yes, down at Jesus' feet, 
And stand in Him, in Him alone — 

All gloriously COMPLETE." 

It is a present salvatiofi. To the soul that trusts in Jesus its 
language is, " I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgress- 
ions." "Thy sins, which are many, ^r^ all forgiven." The 
curse of condemnation is at once lifted from the soul, the dark 
cloud of wrath rolls away, and the clear sunshine of God's love 
and favor beams upon the soul. Whether the believing soul 
looks upward to the pure and holy heaven, or down to hell—' 



548 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

whether it looks back upon its sin-stained life, or looks forward 
into the future, it is able to say, " Who is he that condemneth ? 
It is Christ that died." 

It is not a salvation from a future hell only, but from the 
power and condemnation of sin now. If sin were still left up- 
on the conscience, if the wild and turbulent passions of the 
soul remained in full force, mere deliverance from future pun- 
ishment would leave man as miserable as ever. He would carry 
a hell within him ; and unless he could find a salvation from 
the sin within him, no outward exemption from punishment 
could ever make him happy. He might be taken to heaven's 
brightest scenes of glorious splendor, and amid the gushing 
songs of seraphic gladness he would stand with all the elements 
of a hell burning within his guilty soul. But Christ's salvation 
delivers from the love of sin, and at once plants a new princi- 
ple of life in the soul. It fits men for going to God^ and for 
being forever with God^ by making them God-like. It purifies 
while it pardons. 

This salvation, then, is wonderfully adapted to 04.ir wants as 
lost sinners. For our guilt it brings pardon, for our guilty 
dread of God it brings reconciliation, for our love of sin the 
regeneration of the Holy Spirit, for our pollution a fountain 
opened for sin and uncleanness, and for our restless misery the 
peace of God and a joy unspeakable and full of glory. There 
cannot be sin so deep and damning but the blood of Christ can 
wash it out. Oh, what a glorious passage is this : " Where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound!" This is the very 
salvation we need, and such as none but a God of infinite love 
and wisdom could have devised. 

An old writer says : " If nature had been to contrive th| way 
of salvation, it would rather have put it into the hands of saints 
and angels, to sell it, than into the hands of Christ, who gives 
it freely, whom therefore it suspects. Nature would set up a 
way to purchase, by doing ; therefore it abominates the merits 
of Christ, as the most destructive thing to it. Nature would do 
any thing to be saved rather than go to Christ, or close with 
Christ and owe all to him. Christ will have nothing, but the 



i.. 




JESUS HEALIN'G THE BUXD. 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 549 

soul would thrust somewhat of its own upon Christ. Here is 
the great controversy." 

The adaptation of the gospel as a present salvation to perishing 
men, is illustrated in a letter from one of our chaplains in the army. 
He says : "A hero of many battles, as he lay on a stretcher, 
most earnestly begged for salvation. I inquired what he 
prayed for. ' What is it ?' he said in reply : * It is something for 
eternity. I am unprepared ? — going all unprepared ! Oh, beg for 
a new heart ! I want it now — do not wait ; I want it at once !' " 
Others have told us that all over the bloody battle-field can be 
head the cry of men, as they go into eternity, pleading for a 
present salvation. As their life's blood is gurgling from their 
veins, as they take their last look of the world, they feel that 
what they specially require is a present salvation ; and, blessed 
be God ! the gospel of Christ meets that very want. Thus it 
meets the wants of sinners all over the world. 

A Hindoo on the coast of Malabar, after going through a 
-course of the most dreadful self-inflicted tortures, in order to 
find peace for his troubled soul, heard one of our missionaries 
preach from the text, " The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, 
cleanseth from all sin." The poor heathen listened with in- 
tense interest, and when the sweet gospel idea broke upon his 
darkened mind, he cast from him his instruments of self-torture, 
and joyfully exclaimed, " This is what I want ! This is the 
thing for me!" 

Our blessed Saviour, in the last moments of his agony upon 
the Cross, gave the world a striking evidence of a present sal- 
vation in the conversion of the poor guilty sinner who hung up- 
on the cross beside him. That lost outcast from among men 
was in his last moments, his eyes growing dim in death, his pe- 
riod of probation about to end forever, when Jesus stretched 
out to him the hand of salvation. When he was first suspended 
upon the cross, like his companion in crime, his heart was full 
of enmity against Jesus, and his mouth full of blasphemies. 
He presented the awful spectacle, so often seen, of a soul on 
the very brink of eternity, and yet despising the only way of 
■deliverance. To such fearful depths of guilt will Satan lead his 
victims that they sport on the very brink of hell ' 



550 



THE WORLD S. HOPE. 



But under Christ's instructions a sudden change takes place. 
The bold blasphemer begins to pray. The mocker begins to- 
speak out for Jesus. He takes his vile, sin-polluted soul, and 
puts it into safe keeping, even into the Saviour's hands. He 
hastens to the City of Refuge before the gates are shut against 
him forever. He flies to the Ark of Safety while the hand oi 
mercy is there to take him in. He cries, " Lord, remember me 
when thou comest into thy kingdom !" As if he had said, 
" Lord, remember that poor sinner who hung by thy side — who 
at first despised thee, mocked and reviled thee, but at last be- 
lieved in thee, and found shelter in thy bleeding love." 

How promptly Jesus responded with his present salvation to 
that prayer of faith ! He does not impute his transgressions to 
him — he does not reproach him for his long life of infamy; but 
in the depth of his tender love he receives the lost one to hi?- 
heart and his home. How like was this to the Friend of Sin^ 
ners ! — to Him who does not " quench the smoking flax nor 
break the bruised reed," and who says, " Him that cometh unto 
me I will in no wise cast out." This was, indeed, compassion 
worthy of " Him who is mighty to save." He was not saved by 
his good works, for he had none. All his life had been marked 
only by bad works. If his salvation had depended on his do- 
ing something meritorious, he was forever lost. But without 
good works — ^just as he was, in all his vileness — Jesus took him 
into his favor, and cleansed him in his blood. 

This salvation, however, with all its precious blessings, may 
soon, my dear reader, be beyond your reach. God says, ^''Now 
is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation." Oh, how 
much is suspended upon that little word, Now! It is a small, 
microscopic point on which our eternal interests revolve. The 
past is gone — we can not recall it ; the future is not ours. The 
point of time represented by the word noiv is that with which 
we have alone to do ; and it is there that God meets us with 
this great salvation in his hand, and asks us to accept it. I do- 
not so much fear that many of my readers will cast down this 
book, saying, " I will have nothing to do with this salvation ; — 
I will never come to Christ !" — no, the very awfulness of such 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 551 

a declaration would startle and alarm them ; but the great dan-^ 
ger is that they will acknowledge the truth of it all, confess the 
claims of this salvation upon them, and resolve that some time 
they will attend to the matter. Alas ! how many are sealing, 
their damnation in this way every day ! 

** To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow ! 
Creeps in this petty place from day to day, 
To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dfisky death !" 

Permit me to present some reasons why you should now, with- 
out another moment's delay, come to Christ. 

You can gain nothing by delay. Some of my readers have 
been delaying this matter for ten, twenty, it may be fifty years, 
and all you have gained is increased hardness of heart. You 
are less inclined to attend to spiritual things now than at any 
former period of your life. The whole matter of attending to- 
the salvation of your soul appears to you at this moment en- 
compassed with more difficulties than it ever did before ; and 
so it will be year after year, till by your own hands you will 
have piled up mountain barriers between you and salvation, 
which you can never climb over. You can remember a time 
when the powers of the world to come took hold of you. The 
faithful warnings of the pulpit sounded solemn in your ears as 
the thunders of the last day. You felt tender under the story 
of Christ's love. The providences of God, in the removal of 
friends into the spirit world, deeply affected you, and made you 
wish to be prepared to die. You took up the Bible as God's 
letter to you, and read from its pages the warning voice from 
heaven. Friends prayed for you, ministers cherished high hopes 
concerning you, and Christians said, " Thou art not far from 
the kingdom of God." 

But you delayed to come to Christ, and now that years have 
passed away, what have you gained by the delay ? A seared- 
conscience — a hard heart — an apathy to God's rebukes which 
is the herald of eternal death. You can now sit calm and in- 
different under sermons that at one time would have made you 



552 



THE WORLD S HOPE 



tremble ; and as in nature a deceitful calm often precedes the 
wildest tempest, so your calm, if not broken, will precede the 
tempest of divine wrath that is to burst upon your soul. This 
hardening process is continually going on, and every day's 
■delay increases the probability that you will never be saved at 
all. 

You will never be moi-e able to come to Christ by delay. 
You have all the powers now that you ever will have ; — an un- 
derstanding to hear God speak, a conscience to feel his mighty 
claims upon you, the Holy Spirit to c6nvince you of sin, the 
Bible to present you with the simple plan of salvation. We 
have already shown that delay can never make you more willing 
to come to Christ. You may delude yourself with the idea 
that the circumstances with which you are now surrounded are 
unfavorable, and that by delay you may obtain improvement in 
this respect; but this is a deception of the father of lies. 
Satan's great object is to persuade you that the time has never 
quite come — that you are not yet quite ready to attend to the 
affairs of your soul ; and if you thus listen to his counsel, you 
never will be ready. He will always have a to-morrow with 
which to beguile you on to eternal death. 

There can never be more poiverful motives urged upon you 
than you have now. You are now pressed and urged by the 
most powerful motives to come to Christ — motives drawn from 
heaven, earth and hell. These motives will not become stronger 
by delay. Heaven is as glorious, hell as awful, death and eter- 
nity as solemn, the promises of God as precious, and the love 
of the Lord Jesus Christ as tender and melting as they ever 
will be. If these great realities do not affect you now, what 
reason have you to expect that they ever will affect you 1 
While you have been delaying, thousands have been saved un- 
der the very means you have been rejecting. You, too, might 
have been saved, but Jesus says " ye would not." And can you 
expect that God will institute a new system of means to over- 
come your obstinacy, and to melt that heart which by the abuse 
of the old means you have hardened .? Ah, no ! He has in- 
stituted means and motives admirably adapted to our nature, 



Christ's gracious work. 555 

and those who will not yield to them must perish. " If they 
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither would they be per- 
suaded though one rose from the dead." 

Nothing can be gained by delay, but everything may be lost. 
By delay you are losing the present happiness which the gospel 
of Christ imparts. The sinner has generally the conception in 
his mind that the service of Christ is one of gloom, and that to 
become a Christian is to lose all the pleasures of the present in 
faith of enjoying the blessedness of the future. But where has 
he obtained this idea } Not from the Bible, for it speaks of 
"the peace that passeth all understanding," "the joy unspeak- 
able and full of glory," as connected with the Christian life. 
Neither has he obtained this idea from true Christians, for they 
all bear emphatic testimony to the blessedness of the good hope 
through Christ. The idea has been propagated by men who 
know nothing personally or experimentally about religion them- 
selves, and whose statements concerning it are therefore worthy 
of no more attention than would be the remarks of a blind man 
on the subject of colors, or of a deaf man on the harmony of 
sounds. 

The many years that you have delayed coming to Christ have 
been years in which you have sacrificed your own true happi- 
ness. Your heart has been restless as the troubled sea, when 
all this time it might have been filled with the peace of God. 
You have been filled with dark and guilty forebodings of the 
future, when you might have been contemplating "an inherit- 
ance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserv- 
ed in heaven for you." You have been buffeting with the winds 
and waves of trouble in your own unaided strength, when you 
might have had His aid who comes walking to the believer 
across the stormy sea of difficulty, and says to the raging bil- 
lows, " Peace, be still !" In short, you have been stumbling up- 
on the mountains of sin, and, through the crooked ways that 
lead to death, when you might have been led by the Good 
Shepherd into " the ways of pleasantness and paths of peace," 
and by "green pastures and still waters." By delay you have 
lost years of true hap]:)iness. 



554 THE world's hope. 

By delay you have lost years of true usefuhiess. It is won- 
derful what an amount of good one truly converted person, fill- 
ed and fired with the love of Christ, can do in a few years. 
Let him be truly consecrated to the work, filled with a holy 
^eal, and directed by a single aim to glorify God, and though 
po3sessed of the most moderate talents and common advantages 
he cannot fail to be very useful. In the conversion of souls, in 
the comforting of saints, in the promotion of all the best inter- 
ests of humanity, he will be honored in performing works of 
imperishable glory. Now we will suppose that a companion of 
yours ten years ago gave his heart to Christ, while you deferred 
it to a more convenient season. From that time he has been 
engaged in works of faith and labors of love. Many an eye of 
sorrow he has dried; many a heart of sadness he has cheered. 
There are souls now safe in glory that he was the honored 
means of bringing to Christ. In the meantime, during all these 
years you have been utterly useless, a cumberer of the ground, 
and a burden on God's fair earth. Nay, not only have you all 
that time been useless, but pernicious. It is impossible to be 
negative and neutral in the world. The Saviour says, " He 
that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not 
with me scattereth abroad." So you have been active in accu- 
mulating sin upon your soul, and by your example have been 
leading souls to hell. Oh, what a contrast between these ten 
years of that active Christian and yours ! — he laying up treasure 
in heaven, you treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. 
•Oh, think of that impression — a soul rich in wrath ! He going 
about all these years under the smile and favor of Christ; you 
going out and coming in, rising up and lying down, under con- 
demnation. He making the world happier and better for him 
every day that he lives; you pursuing a course which, if your 
dearest friends follow it, will lead them to eternal woe. And 
yet you might have been saved at the same time that your com- 
panion was. You read the same Bible, heard the same gospel, 
were impressed by the same preaching, were prayed for by the 
same Christians, and convicted of sin by the same Holy Spirit; 
but you lingered, and delayed, and trifled. Oh, look at those 



CHRIST S GFACIOUS WORK. 555 

lost, blighted, blasted years, and thank God that you are not in 
the world of despair ! Start from your dream of false security, 
and let the time past of your life suffice for you to have trifled 
with your soul's interests. 

Do I need to remind you that by longer delay you may lose 
your all — your soul ? To one in health, and who is but seldom 
brought into contact with scenes of sudden death, it may sound 
very trite and common-place to say that life is short and uncer- 
tain ; but if called to see the young and vigorous cut down by 
death as often as the minister of the gospel is, you would then 
feel "what shadows men are, and what shadows they pursue." 
In the course of my ministry I have seen many striking illus- 
trations of the solemn text, " Boast not thyself of to-morrow, 
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," I remem- 
ber a young man in the prime of his days, and in all the 
strength and vigor of his manhood, standing up^ before me to 
record his vows to his young bride, and in two hours more I 
was called to kneel at his dying bed, and offer up the last prayer 
fur his departing spirit. Death does not always send a notice 
of his approach, but, like a thief in the night, he comes to the 
young and the old alike. He never asks whether they are pre- 
pared or not, or whether they are willing to go or not. Ah ! 
how often have we seen him drag the unwilling, the affrighted 
and the shrinking spirit away before it was ready to go ! "I 
did not think I would die so soon !" is their startled cry. 

A minister of Christ talked to a young man about attending 
to the concerns of his soul now, when he was met by the usual 
excuse, that his business affairs were very pressing at present, 
but that at a more convenient time he would attend to the mat- 
ter. The minister spoke of the uncertainty of life, and the 
possibility that he might die before that convenient time ar- 
rived. " I will run the risk of that !" was the light reply. The 
minister went to perform some official duty, and in about two 
hours, when returning by the same road, he met a number of 
men carrying a mangled and bleeding body, and upon looking 
on the face of the dead, he saw it was the same young man with 
ivhom he had been conversing in the morning. Shortly after 



556 THE world's hope. 

fie had uttered the fearful words, " I will run the risk !" he went 
into the woods to chop, and the first tree he felled came down 
upon him and crushed out his young life. Alas ! how many 
are thus risking their eternal all every day upon the breath that 
is in their nostrils ! Sinner, you may make up your mind to 
disobey God for another week, month, or year ; but that time 
you will never have unless God bestows it upon you : and can 
you expect God to give you a prolongation of the life- which 
you have beforehand deliberately planned to employ against 
him ? God bestows upon us our time, as well as every other 
good and perfect gift ; but how great the wickedness of saying, 
" If God gives me another week or month I will employ it in 
rejecting his salvation and trampling upon his law !" Yet this, 
though not the language of your lips, is that of your conduct I 

Take care, my dear reader, that while you are hesitating and 
doubting as to whether you will accept Christ or not, God does 
not decide the matter for you, by suddenly ending your life and 
shuttmg your soul up in hell. Vou may linger, but "your 
juagment lingereth not;" you may slumber, but "your damna- 
tion slumbereth not." God will not be mocked. The storm 
of the righteous displeasure will soon burst upon you with a 
terrible destruction. You do not expect to be lost. The gay- 
est, tne most trifling, the most hardened among you do not ex- 
pect to be lost. Though traveling fast in the broad road, with 
your face set towards perdition, you do not intend to be lost. 
There is still some " to-morrow " set before you that you hope 
will find you a Christian. But when the habit of delaying is 
formed, as it is in your case, the peril is extreme. Oh, start 
from your lethargy this moment, or you may be lost ! 

Delaying sinners often look forward to a death-bed as a time 
when they will have opportunity enough to prepare for eternity. 
I have seen enough of death-beds to know that this is a delu- 
sion of the wicked one. Apart from the consideration that 
death often comes suddenly upon its victim, and without a mo- 
ment's warning ushers the soul into the presence of God, a 
death-bed is not a fit place for settling the great concerns of the 
soul. Sometimes, when death is not sudden, reason is gone. 



Christ's gracious work. 557 

and the victim lies in unconsciousness, or in muttering delirium. 
But even where this is not the case there is pain, depression, an 
overwhelming languor produced by sickness, that often unfits 
the mind for anything requiring concentration and clearness of 
thought. The mind so closely sympathizes with the body that 
a strange lassitude — a stupid, dull indifference to everything 
comes over those who feel themselves nearing eternity, and yet 
know that they are not prepared to die. I have often been 
astonished at this, and still more astonished to find their friends 
calling that very indifference resignation, and proof of a wil- 
lingness to die ! 

Sometimes the sick man, conscious that he is not in a state 
to give proper attention to his soul's salvation, begins to plead 
for restoration to health, and to promise that if his life is spared 
he will live differently. In health waiting for sickness, and 
in sickness waiting for health ! Oh, poor, deluded sinner ! will 
you not see the folly of this course — believe that God's time is 
the best, and that time is nozv ? 

I cannot close this chapter better than by the following con- 
versation which the Rev. Dr. Spencer had with an awakened 
sinner : 

A young man entered my studio, saying, " I am convinced I 
have neglected religion long enoi^gh, and I am determined to 
put it off no longer." 

"That is a good determination," said I. *" Behold now is 
the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of salvation.' " 

" Well, I don't know that that text is for me, because " 

" Yes, it is for you," said I, interrupting him. . 

" I was going to say, sir, I don't suppose I have got so far as 
that yet, so that salvation is for me now.'' 

" You told me that you were determined to put off religion no 
longer, and therefore I say, ' Now is the accepted time ; behold, 
now is the day of salvation.' " 

" But I don't wish to be in a hurry, sir." 

'' You ought to be in haste ! David was. He says, * I thought 
on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies; I made 
haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments.' * God now 



55^ THE world's hope. 

commandeth all men, every where, to repent,' and you are one 
of them ; and if you are like David, you will make haste and 
delay not to keep God's commandments." 

" I don't suppose I am in such a state of mind as to be pre- 
pared to become a Christian now.'' 

"Will disobeying God put you in a better state of mind, do 
you think .?" 

"Why, I don't know; but I have not much deep conviction. 
I know that I am a sinner against God, and I wish to turn to 
him and live a different life." 

"Then turn to him. Now is the accepted time." 

" But I find my heart is full of sin. I am all wrong. I feel 
an opposition to God such as I never felt before." 

" Then repent, and turn to God instantly, while it is called 
to-day." 

" But I don't suppose I can be ready to come to religion so 
quick."" 

"You said you were determined to put it off no longer, and 
I told you now is the accepted time." 

" But I never began to think seriously about my religion till 
last Sunday." 

"And so you want to put it off a little longer." 

" Why, J want to get 'ready.'" 

"And are you getting ready .f* You have tried for a week." 

" No, sir," said he, in a sad manner ; " I don't think I am any 
nearer to it than I was at first." 

" I don't think you are; and I suppose the reason is, you 
don't believe now is the accepted time." 

"Oh yes, I do, for the Bible says so.", 

" Then, don't wait for any other time. Repent )iow. Flee to 
Christ no7V., in the accepted time." 

" I have not conviction enough yet." 

"Then it cannot be the accepted time yet." 

" But I have not faith enough." 

"Then it cannot be the accepted time." 

"Well, sir, I — I — I am not ready now.'* 

"Then it cannot be the accepted time no^t^ " 



CHRIST S GRACIOUS WORK. 



559 



" But it seems to me it is too quick," said he, earnestly. 

" Then it cannot be 'the accepted time,' and the Bible has 
made a mistake." 

" But, sir, my heart is wotfreparedy 

" Then it is not the accepted time." 

With much embarrassment in his manner he replied, "AVhat 
shall I do.?" 

" Repent and turn to God, with faith in Christ to save you as 
a lost, unworthy sinner, 7iow in the accepted time." 

He appeared to be in a great strait. He sat in silence, with 
very manifest uneasiness, for a few moments, and then asked : 
" Is it possible that any one should repent and turn to God so 
soon, when I began to think about it only last Sunday V 

" Now is the accepted time !" said I. 

Again he sat in thoughtful silence, and after a time he asked 
me : " Is salvation offered to sinners noivV 

" Yes, now. ' Now is the day of salvation.' " 

" But it seems to me I am not prepared now to give up the 
world." 

" And that very thing is your difficulty. You are not pre- 
pared, but ' now'x^ the accepted time.' You wish to put off your 
repentance and conversion to Christ till some other time, but 
' now is the accepted time.' You and your Bible disagree ; and 
if nothing else kept you from salvation, this would be enough. 
I beseech you, my dear friend, delay no longer. Nowrs, God's 
time. You told me you were determined to put off religion no 
longer. I suspected you did not know your own heart, and 
therefore said to you, ''Now is the accepted time.' And now 
it has become manifest that all the while you meant to put 
off religion till some other time." 

" It seems hard to shut up a man just to the present time," 
said he, in an imploring accent. 

" If you were a dying man, and had only an hour to live, you 
would not say so; you would be glad to have the Bible say to 
you, '■Now is the accepted time,' instead of telling you that you 
needed a month or a week to flee to Christ. It is mercy in God 



q6o THE WORLDS HOPE. 

to say to you, ' Behold, now is the day of salvation,' when you 
do not know that you will live till to-morrow morning." 

" Will you pray with me ?" said he. 

I prayed with him, and we separated. The last words I ut- 
tered to him as he left the door were, ^^ Now is the accepted 
time." 

Just one week afterwards he called upon me, " to give an ac- 
count of himself," as he said. " I have got out of my trouble,' 
said he. " Now I trust in Christ, and I am reconciled to God, 
or at least I think so. I thought you were very hard upon me 
last Sunday night, when you hammered me and hammered me 
with that text — 'Now is the accepted time.' But I could not 
get away from it ; — it followed me everywhere. I would think 
of one thing, and then that would come up — ' Now is the ac- 
cepted time.' Then I would begin to think of something else, 
and it would come up again — 'Now is the accepted time.' So 
I went on for three days. I tried \.o forget that text, but I could 
not. I said to myself, *There is something else in the Bible be- 
sides that :' but wlierever I read, that would come to my mind. 
It annoyed and tormented me. At last I began to question my- 
self why it was this plagued me so much, and I found it was 
because I w^as not zmlling to be saved by Christ. I was trying to 
do something for myself,, and I wanted more time. But it was 
not done. Everything failed me ; and then I thought if ' Now 
is the accepted time,' I may go to Christ now, wicked as I am. 
So I just prayed for ??iercy, and gave up all to Him." 

This was a blessed conclusion of this hard struggle ; and 
what a blessed thing that he fell into the hands of such a wise 
and faithful instructor ! If he had met with one who would 
have told him to go home and pray, or to read, or to examine 
himself, he might have lost his soul. The awakened sinner is 
willing to perform any duty, that he may have the credit of do- 
ing something for himself. But on the peril of his soul he must 
be pressed with one thing alone — an immediate surrender of his 
all to Christ. Our existence is a wreck and a chaos, w^hich his 
salvation alone can restore. Our souls have within an aching 



Christ's gracious work. 561 

void — a restless, unsatisfied longing, which this salvation only 
can fill and satisfy. Accept it now as freely offered, and it will 
be the joy of your life — your boast in time — your bliss through 
eternity ! It will prove the charm of your youth, the strength 
of your vigorous years, the glory of your old age, your health 
in sickness, and your life in death. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 
" This do in remembrance of me." Luke 22 : 19. 

Memory can be made either an angel to bless and comfort 
us, or a fiend to curse and torment us, even in the present life ; 
and it will either increase our happiness or our misery through 
all eternity. There are wrapped up in the souls of some men 
dark and bitter remembrances. With advancing years they try 
hard to forget them; but like a blood-hound, true to the scent, 
these dreadful memories pursue them, go where they may. 
They would give the world, did they possess it, for some big 
wave of oblivion to come and wash out from their souls these 
recollections forever. 

There are people with whom we have become acquainted in 
the past that we can never remember but with loathing and 
horror. We think of them and of their influence upon our- 
selves and others with the same feelings with which we remem- 
ber the horrors of a nightmare. If they still live we shun their 
presence as we would the plague, and when we learn that they 
have dropped into the grave we feel as if a walking pestilence 
had been stayed. But there are others, the remembrance of 
whom comes over us like a breeze from paradise. We thank 
God every day of our lives that ever we were brought under 
their influence ; and though they may have ceased from earth, 
yet in our memory they still live, and speak for God with a voice 
that the grave cannot stifle. 

How often, at the railroad depot or at the sea-port, have we 
seen loved friends standing with clasped hands and tearful eyes, 
as they took their last look of each other, and with quivering 
lip and faltering voice said, " Remember me ! " And on those 
tender occasions it is no uncommon thing for little tokens of 
remembrance to be exchanged, which in after years, whenever 

562 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 563 

looked ^pon, may call up in all its freshness the love of that 
friend. That token of the past may be of no great value in 
itself, but as the remembrancer of a dear friend, far distant, or 
perhaps departed from earth, it is to us of untold value. It has 
linked to it a history full of tender associations, and every 
time we look upon it we feel their improving influence. 

Now, our best friend, the Lord Jesus, before his departure 
from earth left his church a token of remembrance in the Lord's 
Supper, and said, " Do this in remembrance of me." And in 
order to make the occasion more tender still, he has pledged 
himself to be present in his fullness of grace, to impart untold 
blessings to those who with the right spirit comply with his faie- 
well request. Oh, believer, can you permit any trifling thing to 
keep you away on such a happy occasion ! If so, it is but too 
evident that your love has waxed cold. 

At a public exhibition of a panorama of the Holy Land, as 
the picture of Jerusalem was passing before the eyes of the 
deeply interested audience, a voice suddenly cried out, " Where 
is Calvary ? " The effect of that question, even before that pro- 
miscuous assembly, was electrical. A deep solemnity fell upon 
all, and in the dim light tears could be seen glistening in many 
eyes. An unconverted person present confessed that at that 
moment his soul was penetrated with a sense of his guilty in- 
gratitude to the blessed Saviour. 

It has been said that that is the most valuable thought which 
suggests the greatest number of other thoughts. If this be so, 
how valuable is the remembrance of Jesus. It calls up thoughts 
innumerable, all teeming with blessings to the soul, and deep 
enough and rich enough to last us forever ! It brings before us 
the pasty with all our guilt and ingratitude, and all Christ's love 
and forbearance. It brings before us the present, with all its 
blessings of pardon, a place among God's people, and a wealth 
of love shed abroad in our hearts. It brings before us the fu^ 
ture^ with its sinless songs, its home of deathless rapture, and 
the blessedness of being forever with the Lord and with his 
people. 

When we come to the Lord's Supper, to remember Jesus, we 



564 THE world's hope. 

Stand, as it were, upon a vast eminence, look over tl^ whole 
history of the past, and see it full of love, full of Christ ; while 
from the same sacred height we can look into the future and 
see a coming Saviour — no longer as a man of sorrows, but as a 
conquering King ; no longer wearing a crown of thorns, but a 
crown of glory — no longer mocked and despised of men, but 
every knee bowing before him, and every tongue confessing him 
Lord of All. Hence he tells us to meet and remember him 
" till I come ; " and fired by the joyful thought of his coming, 
the church shouts out its eager longings — " Even so, come, Lord 
Jesus." 

And those who come to the sacred feast truly to remember 
Jesus, will be truly remembered by him. We do not like to be 
forgotten by our friends. A sharp pang of anguish cuts through 
our hearts when we think we have been ungratefully forgotten 
by those we love. But what if the whole world were to forget 
and forsake us, if the Lord Jesus only remembered us ! His 
affection would abundantly make up for the loss of every other. 
Never talk about being poor, friendless, forsaken as long as you 
have a warm place in the heart of Him who cannot forget you, 
since he has engraven your name on the palms of his l" ands. 

The very modest request of the dying thief was to be remem- 
bered by Jesus. The request was granted ; and oh ! how much 
was implied in the granting of that request! In the answer 
which he received to that request were secured to him a crown 
of glory, a home of eternal love, and blessings so vast that we 
have not power of imagination even to conceive of them. Yes, 
believer, the Lord remembers you, and makes your interests his. 
The place of your abode, the perplexities of your earthly lot^ 
the struggles of your soul after a higher spiritual life, and all 
the big waves of trouble that roll over you, are known to your 
Elder Brother, and command his deepest sympathy. He is 
touched with a feeling of your infirmities, and at the right time 
his hand of love will be stretched out for your deliverance. 

When Christians come together at the communion table, it 
should be simply to remember the Lord Jesus, — not merely to 
remember him among other objects, but above all other objects. 




THE BETRAYAL 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 565 

and to the exclusion of all others. " Lovest thou me more than 
these ?" We do not come there to perform a church ceremony. 
We do not come to dwell upon our own feelings, emotions and 
shortcomings, for that would be to remember ourselves rather 
than Jesus. We do not come to think over our past expe- 
riences of religion, however good these may have been, for that 
would be to remember only our past i-emejubrances of Jesus. 
We come not to think of the faults of our brethren, for there 
every heart should be brimming over with love. We are to 
meet with Jesus in the midst, upon whom all hearts are to be 
fixed, as the great centre of love, and he will fill our hearts with 
his presence, and thrill them with the words " Peace be unto 
you !" 

On the Mount of Transfiguration who was it that formed the 
great centre of the group that stood there, bathed in the fullness 
of heaven's glory 1 Who was- it that drew the disciples up from 
the world below, and Moses and Elias down from the heights 
above, and thus united the members of the family in heaven 
and in earth in sweet brotherly converse } It was the Lord Jesus. 
And what brought the eternal God himself down to that mount, 
to give audible testimony to the truth } Was it not because his 
beloved Son was there .»* So if there is to be union between our 
souls and God, it must be through Christ. If there is to 
be a union of love between the members of the church, it must 
be cemented and rendered eternal by the love of Christ. 

Dear reader, whatever you forget, do not forget the blessed 
Saviour. It might seem at first sight impossible for any one to 
live in a world for which he has done so much, and yet forget 
him. With the same sun shining upon us that once shone on 
him ; with the same stars twinkling over our heads that once 
looked solemnly down on his midnight wrestlings; with the Bi- 
ble in our hands, the heaven-authenticated record of his labors, 
and tears, and sufferings for us ; with the Spirit ever pleading 
for him in our hearts, and conscience ever urging his claims ; 
with death approaching- which Jesus only can prevent proving 
to us the King of Terrors, and with eternity opening its portals 
to receive us, which he only can make to us a home of bliss, 



566 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



we should be ready to exclaim, " Is it possible that I can ever 
forget him !" 

But alas ! stern experience tells us that we may and that we do 
forget him ; and in order to prevent it he has instituted outward 
tokens of his love, that appeal to our very senses, and through 
them to every power of our souls, saying, " Remember me. 
Under a consciousness of guilt, remember I died for you. In 
the furnace of affliction, remember I am with you. When un- 
der the sifting power of Satan's temptations, remember I am 
praying for you. When duties stern and severe are laid upon 
you, and you are ready to shrink from the cross, remember that 
for you I endured the Cross and despised the shame." And 
when death comes to clasp you in his skeleton arms, and when 
heart and flesh fail, and nature shrinks back in dismay, remem- 
ber that your Redeemer liveth. Yes, blessed Jesus, while 
memory holds her place, and re'ason has the ascendency, we 
shall remember thee and may thy glorious name fade away from 
our dying lips only to be taken up in strains more worthy of 
thee in heaven. 

" Oh, Memory, leave no other name 
But His recorded there ! " 

The emblems employed in the Lord's Supper are very signifi- 
cant. Indeed it is characteristic of all our Lord's teaching, 
that he made the external objects around us administer to our 
spiritual profit. He knew that according to the constitution of 
our minds that discourse will always be best remembered, and 
make the deepest impression, which contains the most ideas of 
which a representation on canvas could be made by the painter. 
Our Lord's sermons were of this kind. When he would illus- 
trate the comprehensiveness and wide-spread benevolence of his 
Father, he refers us to the rain and the sunshine. " He maketh 
his sun to shine upon the evil and the good, and his rain to de- 
scend upon the just and the unjust." When he would ilhistrate 
the minuteness and far-reaching nature of God's providence, he 
refers us to the fall of the sparrow, and tells us that the hairs of 
our head are all numbered. When he would teach us to trust 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 567 

in God, and make us feel our own individualism before him, he 
says, "Consider the hhes," and "Consider the ravens." Jesus 
never rejected an illustration of truth because it was common 
and familiar, but rather accepted that as a recommendation of 
it. The children playing in the market-place, the hen running 
with outstretched wing to shelter her brood, the long-lost prod- 
igal returning home, the woman seeking diligently for the lost 
piece of silver and rejoicing over its recovery, are all speci- 
mens of the simple nature of his illustrations ; and many a pul- 
pit now " dying of dignity " would have new life and 
power infused into it if the preacher would but imitate the 
Great Teacher in this respect. His drowsy hearers, sinking to 
sleep in their cushioned pews, would rouse up and gaze with 
delighted wonder to see him lay aside his dry, intellectual ab- 
stractions and his elaborately concocted milk and water for the 
pure, simple gospel, illustrated after the qxample of Jesus. 

The broken bread and the expressed juice of the grape were 
to represent his broken body and shed blood ; but as neither of 
these nourishing objects can do us any good unless we partake 
of them for ourselves, so there must be a personal application 
of Christ to our own souls by faith. This is what our Lord 
means when he says, " Unless ye eat my flesh and drink n]y 
blood ye have no life in you." As to maintain our bodily life 
Ave must each eat and drink for ourselves, so to obtain and 
maintain spiritual life we must have a personal union with 
Christ. The branch that has life and bears fruit must be in the 
vine. To be nea,}- the vine would not do ; to be even tied 
£lose against the vine would not do ; it must be a part of 
it to draw the life-giving sap. This is what is meant by living 
on thrist by faith. Thus, in the Lord's Supper the symbols are 
simple, and the truths represented by these are simple. 

When men of the world have wished to perpetuate their 
names, it has been by erecting some vast pyramid, some tower- 
ing pillar of sculptured stones ; but Jesus takes, as a memorial 
of what he has done for us, bread and wine, and through these 
simple elements enforces great truths, writing the remembrance 
of his love, " not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of 
the heart," and causinc? it to live forever. 



568 THE world's hope. 

Let me now point out something of the spirit in which we 
should remember the Saviour in this ordinance which he has 
appointed. 

It should be done in a spirit of child-like confidence in him. 
On one occasion our Lord took a little child, and having set 
him in the centre of the throng, said, " Whosoever shall not re- 
ceive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter 
therein." This comes close to the hearts of those who are pa- 
rents. That lovely child that you take so tenderly in your 
arms, whose outward beauty of form is but a faint type of the 
guileless spirit within, in whose presence guilt is awed and sor- 
row soothed, that comes to your homes as an angel of love, with 
its freedom from care, from suspicion, from unbelief, your Lord 
takes as an illustration of the spirit and temper he would have 
you cherish. 

What a lovely sight to see the sturdy understanding and the 
vigorous, well-cultivated intellect of the man united to a heart 
that simply believes when God speaks like a little child ! When 
was it that David reached the highest pinnacle of true greatness.^ 
It was not when, as a shepherd boy, he slew the bold defyer of 
Israel, and sent a thrill of joy through the hearts of his country- 
men. It was not when he ascended the greatest throne then on 
earth, amid the joyous acclamations of the people ; and it was 
not when, by a series of brilliant victories, he established that 
throne in still greater power and glory. No, — David never was so 
truly great as when he could say, " I have behaved and quieted 
myself like a little child : my soul is even as a weaned child." 

This is a spirit of entire dependence on God, A child has 
the utmost confidence in his father's power to do anything for 
him that he promises, and in his readiness to supply all'his 
wants. A proud spirit of self-sufiiciency is the very spirit of 
Lucifer, and leads to revolt and rebellion against the loving and 
paternal government of God , while a loving, confiding, depend- 
ent spirit sweetly reposes on the bosom of God, and says, " Not 
my will but thine be done." The proud, self-sufficient man 
speaks as if he would take the Bible, Christianity, and the church 
under his patronage, and as if God himself were under strong 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 569 

obligations to him for defending his cause; while the humble, 
child-Hke spirit feels that it is an infinite condescension for God 
to permit him to engage in his service, or to put forth the small- 
est effort to promote his cause. The humble child of God puts 
his hand into his Father's hand, and permits him to lead him 
whithersoever he will. If it be into a wilderness of perplexity 
or a sea of troubles, he has confidence to depend on the hand 
he holds, saying, " Lord, I will follow thee whithersoeVer thou 
goest." The vigorous understanding of the man recognizes the 
duty, and the loving heart of the child obeys it. 

This, then, is the spirit of faith or trust. How implicitly a 
child trusts the word of a loving father ! How happy it goes to 
bed, and hovv sweetly it sleeps upon a promise for the morrow ! 
It does not insist upon evidence, for it suspects no deceit. " My 
father said so" is enough, and settles all controversies. It 
knows but very little of the father's plans and arrangements for 
its future, but it has a boundless confidence in his love and his 
wisdom. See that father down in the dark cellar of his dwell- 
ing. The door has been left open, and his little daughter draws 
near and peers into the darkness, but cannot see her loving pa- 
rent. "Father, where are you.?" " I am here, my child." "But 
[cannot see you, father." "No matter, I am here, standing 
with my arms stretched out to catch you. Jump, and in a mo- 
ment you will be safe in my arms." The little one starts back, 
her color comes and goes, and her bosom heaves under the 
strong struggle between faith and unbelief On the one hand 
she has her father's word, and he never deceived her; on the 
other hand, she cannot see him — she has no help from sense — 
it must be all faith. But the struggle is brief; she confidently 
leaps down, and is pressed to her father's heart. 

Such is the struggle that many a child of God goes through. 
He has the plain promise, the clear testimony of God on tht 
one hand; but then, on the other hand, his path is hedged up. 
all is perplexity, and he walks in darkness and has no light. 
His affairs are all in confusion, and his future shrouded in 
gloom. Courage, Christian ! Remember Jesus, and hold on 
to the divine hand. "We walk by faith, not by sight; " and 



570 'i^HE WORLDS HOPE. 

sooner would God permit all the planets with which he has 
peopled space to rush to ruin than suffer one of the little ones^ 
who believe in him to be forsaken. 

Hannah Moore once went into the shop of a carpet-weaver,, 
and as she looked upon the product of his industry she said that 
she could not understand the pattern. The loose and tangled 
threads seemed to her confusion instead of beauty. The 
weaver told her it was going to be one of the loveliest patterns 
he had ever wrought, at which she wondered greatly till he 
added, " Madam, jf^w are looking on the wrong side f So we- 
are often looking on the wrong side of God's ways, but faith 
teaches us to trust him where we cannot see him ; and in pro- 
portion as we do so will our way open before us, our lips will 
be filled with songs of gratitude, and we will be able to say 
with the holy Fletcher, '^ I am poor in nothing but thanks." 

Another emotion which should be enkindled at the table of 
the Lord is that of love to Jesus. A Roman servant, knowing 
that assassins were watching for the life of his master, whom he 
dearly loved, dressed himself in his master's clothes, in order 
that he might be mistaken for him and put to death in his 
stead. The result answered his expectations, and he died for 
the man he loved. We are told that his master caused his 
statue in brass to be erected as a monument of his deep grati- 
tude. But what should be the fervor of our love to Him who 
gave up his life — not for his friends, but for his enemies ! A 
careless sinner, returning from a place of worship lately, ex- 
pressed his approval of the sermon and of the preacher by the- 
remark, "He thinks a great deal of Jesus — doesn't he.?" 

And under what everlasting obligations to love and devoted- 
ness has Jesus laid us ! As an old writer says : " Oh, astonish- 
ing love ! that the General should die for the soldier, the Phy- 
sician for the patient, the Master for the servant, the Shepherd 
for the sheep, the innocent for the guilty, the just for the un- 
just, the Prince for the rebel, the Lord of Glory for the child- 
ren of disobedience, He that was without sin for him that was 
without all righteousness; yea, the Creator for the creature — 
God for man — the righteous Judge to put himself in the male- 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 571 

factor's clothes and room, and suffer death for him ! Glorious 
Saviour ! what love was this, that thou shouldst become ' a man 
of sorrows and acquainted with grief;' that from the womb to 
the tomb, from the cradle to the Cross, thy whole life should be 
a continued martyrdom ; that thou shouldst be content to be 
born among beasts, live among murderers, and die among 
thieves — and all to obtain a place among the blessed for us ! 
Oh, the unfathomable love of Jesus ! His name is love, his 
nature is love, his words were love, and his actions were love." 

But when we try to speak of Christ's love we feel that lan- 
guage fails us, and the mind staggers back from the attempt tO' 
grasp the subject. We stand and gaze into the subject, ex- 
claming, " O the heights and O the depths !" We take our po- 
sition on Calvary, and in view of the Cross we sit down beside 
the holy John and the beloved Marys, and say, " Herein is love, 
not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and gave his Son 
to die for us." And after all that we have said, and thought, 
and heard upon the love of Christ, we feel that we are only 
wandering around the edges of a vast ocean, without bottom,, 
and that it will take eternity itself to explore. No\\ it is this 
love he would have us to remember, that it may kindle up love 
in our hearts in return. That love of his is well remembered in 
he? /en ; but it is a burning shame that on earth, the very place 
where its rich glories were displayed, it should be forgotten. 

We are to remember him as the coming Lord. " Do this in 
remembrance of me /////r^;;/^." Sometimes we make a great 
feast in honor of some hero or benefactor ; but then he is pres- 
sent to enjoy it and receive our honors. But this feast is 
spread in honor of an absent friend. True, he is present in his 
spiritual power; but we are taught to look for him in his bodily 
preence, when we shall see the very hands that were nailed to the 
cross for us, and look into those very eyes that swam in tears 
of sorrow for us ; and not only so, but when he shall thus ap- 
pear " we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." 

There was felt to be a mighty power in the hope of the 
Lord's coming among the primitive Christians. This ordi- 
nance was to them a sacred pledge of 1 is returning to take 



572 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

their part against all their foes. Of his coming they had no 
doubt, and had he appeared among them at any time it would 
have been nothing to them but a glad surprise. It is a most 
sorrowful thing that because the Lord delays his coming for 
some wise reasons, the church of God to a great extent has 
ceased to watch for his appearing with a simple faith in his 
words. Even many of those who are cherishing this glorious 
hope are, instead of simply " waiting for his Son from heaven," 
waiting for the appearance of certain events. Hence their con- 
stant talk is of " the beast," and " the man of sin," and the 
^' false prophet," and the "ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's 
image," and the drying up of the river Euphrates. They get 
wise above what is written, keep watching for events instead of 
for the Lord himself, fix times in direct opposition to our Lord's 
own statement, and thus, plunging into a system of mere 
guessing, each contending that his guess is the best, they lose 
the spiritual power and profit which the primitive disciples 
found by simply trusting their Lord's word and waiting for his 
appearing. 

Let us seek to cultivate love to Christ by a constant remem- 
brance of all he has done for us in the past, all he is doing for 
us in the present, and all he has pledged himself to do for us in 
the future. When fierce storms of temptation assail us, and we 
are ready to fall before their power, let us remember that we 
have been with Christ in his banqueting house of love, and that 
we are under obligations of no common kind to glorify him by 
a holy life. When Peter assumed the dreadful position of de- 
nying Jesus, how bitter to his soul must have been the question 
of an unbeliever — " Did not 1 see thee in the garden with him .'" 
Ah ! the terrible scenes of the garden thus suddenly called up, 
and the love of his Lord thus brought into contrast with his 
present guilty and ungrateful conduct, must have been like a 
sword piercing his heart ! Christian, you have been seen by 
the world at the Lord's table, thus declaring your attachment 
to him ; let not the inconsistency of your life bring reproach 
upon your Lord's cause, and condemnation upon your own 
soul. 



THE BLESSED REMEMBRANCE. 573 

To the impenitent sinner I would say: Why are you not re- 
membering Jesus ? It cannot be because he has done nothing 
for you, for he shed his precious blood for you ; it cannot be 
because he has forgotten you, for every moment of your life 
you are the object of his care. It is because your heart, like the 
Inn of Bethlehem, is filled with other guests, and there is no 
room for the gracious Saviour. Oh, turn out of your heart these 
soul-enemies ! Welcome the Lord of Glory into it, lest you be 
followed through all eternity with the bitter remembrance of in- 
gratitude to your best friend. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 



" For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same 
is my brother, and sister, and mother." Matt. 12 : 50. 

" The gospel," says one, " is a great mountain with two peaks 
— the divinity and the humanity of the Son of God." The 
divinity of Christ is a most vital and essential truth. It lies at 
the foundation of the glorious fabric of Christianity, and, taken 
in connection with his atoning work, is the sinner's hope. But 
the doctrine of the true humanity of Jesus is also vastly impor- 
tant. This is evident from what the Apostle John says : "Every 
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh 
is not of God." And again we are told : " There is one Media- 
tor between God and man, the 7nan Christ Jesus." That he 
was really a man, possessed of a body like our own, subject to 
all the trials, and sufferings, and temptations to which we are 
exposed, brings him very near to us. There is scarcely any sit-, 
uation in which we can be, unless it be a sinful one, but we find 
Jesus has been in it before us, and can sympathize with us in it. 
Are we in poverty } He, though rich, yet for our sakes became 
poor, and voluntarily trod the lowly walks of life. Is it our lot 
to labor with our own hands, and toil within the limits of some 
laborious occupation } Jesus was a working man, and dignified 
manual labor by his holy example. Are you bowed down by 
the pressure of some great sorrow } Jesus was the man of sor- 
rows. Are you deeply distressed by the fact that members of 
your own family are yet out of Christ } Jesus can even sympa- 
thize with you, "for neither did his brethren believe in him.'* 
Are you persecuted, and has your name been cast out as evil, for 
the truth's sake .5* Jesus was "despised and rejected of men," 
and there is scarcely a term of reproach in the world's vocabu- 
lary that was not poured upon his holy head. In short, he wa« 

574 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 575 

"in every point" tried as we are, that he might be a sy^npa- 
thizing High Priest. 

But there is scarcely any character under which Christ in his 
manhood is represented by which he comes so near and dear to 
us as that of Friend. Man is made a social being, and a large 
portion of our earthly enjoyments spring from the society of our 
friends. In praise of friendship both poetry and oratory have 
put forth their noblest efforts. Indeed, without the society of 
our friends the fairest scenes lose their attractions, and the 
world becomes to us a dreary blank. 

A gentleman lately passing through the streets of a crowded 
city, in a cold rain-storm, saw a man sitting upon a door-step, 
shivering in the inclement blast. It was the darkness of night, 
and by the light of the street lamp the gentleman saw that his 
clothing was scanty and in rags, and that a look of utter despair 
sat upon his face. He asked him why he did not go home. "I 
have no home !" was the reply. " Who are your friends .'*" the 
gentleman asked. " I have no friends !" was the sad answer. 
No home — no friends ! Can we conceive anything more dreary 
and desolate ? 

A young woman was lately wandering the streets of our city, 
not knowing where to go or what to do, and a feeling of deso- 
lation settling down upon her soul, when she saw in large letters 
over the door of one of our noble institutions, " Home for the 
Friendless." The star of hope gleamed through the darkness 
of her soul, and she said, "Ah! that is just what I want!" 
The soul pines away into hopeless misery without a friend. 

Now, Jesus meets this deep want of our nature by offering to 
all — the most guilty transgressor, the homeless wanderer, the 
abandoned outcast — the precious boon of his friendship. Let 
me then occupy the reader's attention for a short time with some 
of the characteristics of Christ's friendship. 

Let us remember at the very threshold of the subject, that 
while it is the true friendship of a man that Jesus offers us, it is 
also that of God. While he wears our nature and is truly our 
brother he is also our King. His friendship is therefore backed 
by Omnipotence, and it cainot, consequently, possibly fail in 



576 THE world's hope. 

what it undertakes to do for us. Man, as a sinner, is born to 
trouble. It is his natural inheritance, of which he is placed in 
immediate possession. No advantages of birth, wealth, educa- 
tion or wisdom can save him from this common lot. In our 
trouble we naturally go somewhere for help — either where we 
can be helped, or where we cannot. The great majority of the 
world's sufferers go where no help can be found : some to the 
frigid precepts of a cold philosophy, some to bury a|l thought 
and memory in a whirl of exciting pleasures or in the intoxica- 
ting bowl, some in the mad chase after gold, which turns to 
ashes in their grasp, while all agree in turning their faces away 
from the only friend who can help them. 

We may have an earthly friend who is neither wanting in con-- 
stancy of affection nor in willingness to make any sacrifice to 
aid us, but he is deficient in ability. In the dark hour of our 
extremity, when we most need aid, he stands by, it may be with 
a tearful eye and a bleeding heart, but utterly helpless to assist 
us. How often have we seen the fond mother gaze in unutter- 
able anguish upon the sufferings of a child she was unable to 
relieve ! How often does the loving friend see the object of his 
affection involved in difficulties which he has no power to 
alleviate ! 

But it is not so with Jesus. The hour of our extremity is the 
time of his gracious opportunity. Never can we be beyond the 
grasp of his powerful hand. His aid is as prompt as it is pow- 
erful. His resources are not only boundless, but they are avail- 
able when we most require them. He is " a very present help" 
in time of need. He was a present help to Peter when he was 
sinking amid the surging waves and cried, *' Lord, save or I per- 
ish!" Similar was the case of the nobleman who said, "Sir, 
come down ere my child die." " He is nigh unto all who call 
upon him." No matter where we may be — in the sequestered 
vale or in the crowded city, in the silent wilderness or in the 
busy marts of business, in the prisoner's cell or in the hold of 
the vessel rocking upon the great deep, in the deep mine or on 
the mountain top, — he is nigh us, with an ear ready to hear and 
a hand mighty to save. ^ 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 577 

It is true that for wise and holy purposes Jesus often seems 
to delay his coming to the help of his people. This was the 
case with the afflicted sisters of Bethany, when their brother lay 
cold in death, and yet Jesus did not come. There was a shade 
of reproach as well as of faith in the words of Martha — ''Lord, 
if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." He 
seems to hide himself and to delay his coming. David 
seems sometimes to have felt this, for he cried, " Make haste, O 
Lord, to deliver me!" But this is only in appearance. His 
delays, as they seem to us, are help applied at the time that will 
be best for us and most for his glory. He is not slow, but we 
are impatient. This divine Friend can make all things work 
together for our good. Clothed in Omnipotence, he stands by 
us, saying, " Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for 
I am thy God." No wonder that those who realize his presence 
become bold and confident, and can say with David — "Though 
a host should encamp about me, my heart shall not fear." The 
sustaining power of the love of Jesus is seen in every-day life 
by those who mingle with the tried and suffering people of God. 
Let the following narrative of one who had gone through some 
of life's severest trials illustrate this : 

I entered a cottage, [says a lady,] to pay a visit to an aged 
Christian. After some little chat I remarked, " You are near 
the end of your journey. How does the prospect appear to you.''" 

" I have nothing to speak of but goodness and mercy in re- 
viewing the past," said she, " and only gratitude and praise for 
the present. I have not a wish in the world, and I do fiot want 
to wish.'' 

" Not a wish ! and do not want to wish!" I looked round 
upon the neat cottage. Not a carpet — not a sofa ! All was 
plain, neat, and comfortable. " Your life has been one of great 
trial and sorrow," said I : " how is it that you have arrived at 
this truly enviable condition .''" 

"It has indeed been a life of severe discipline," she replied, 
" but oh, how merciful ! When I was left a widow, and the ac- 
count reached me that my husband had died on a foreign shore, 
and all our property was at once swept away, then my heart re- 



578 THE world's hope. 

belled ; it was more than I could bear — to look at my seven or- 
phans, some of them mere infants, and think that their father 
was gone, and I wished that I was dead! I then knew not my 
Saviour, who has since proved himself the God of the widow; 
but in that dark night he drew near and called me first to him- 
self, and then bade me drink of the living waters which flow 
from his blessed word, that I might thirst no more. But this 
was not enough : he opened a way for me to feed and clothe 
my children, and keep them all with me. Year after year he 
sustained me, and I have seen my children grow up and fill use- 
ful situations in society ; and some of them he has better pro- 
vided for — they are where they hunger no more, and thirst no 
more, but are with the Lamb before the throne. And now why 
should I wish .? I dare not, lest I desire something which might 
not please my heavenly Father. I can think of no place in the 
wide universe where I should not be happy if His hand led me 
.there. I desire Him to do just as he pleases with me. I would 
go to Him now cheerfully ; and I often think, as I turn into my 
little room, I should like to die all alone with God, if it is his 
will, but if he pleases I can live on for years longer." 

Well, thought I, such strains sound so like heavenly music, 
she cannot long be separated from her kindred spirits, and so 
the event proved. A few weeks more passed away, when an in- 
jury received from a fall laid her upon her bed to rise no more, 
during her few days of suffering she met every one who called 
with a radiant smile, telling them that the Master had sent the 
joyful summons, and she was hastening away — ready to depart. 
She caught up the louder, sweeter song to Him who loved her 
as she passed through the portals of death ; and if heaven re- 
joiced to receive her, earth might well have wept to lose so much 
effectual prayer. 

This is but one case out of thousands to be found all around 
us under the shadows of very humble roofs, but little known to 
the world, and never wanting to be known, Iput happy in sweet 
fellowship with Jesus, their heavenly Friend, and feeling peace 
and assurance forever while under his protection. My dear 
reader, will you not now choose such an Almighty Friend ? 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 579 

Jesus is an unchanging Frie7id — '* The same yesterday, to-day 
and forever." It is but a trite remark to say that this is a 
changing world ; but the sad experience of its truth, as it comes 
to each of us, is felt to be a startling reaHty. In nothing is this 
more felt than in the friendships of earth. Where are the friends 
of our youth — of our schoolboy day^.? Melted away like snow- 
flakes falling on ocean's breast ! Let the man of middle life ask 
where are the majority of the young men who started with him 
in the busy scramble of life .? Passed away as forgotten shad- 
ows ! Let the aged parent ask where are those who formed 
that gay and happy group of prattlers around his family hearth 
but a few years ago ? Scattered like the leaves of the forest ! 
Some in foreign lands have found a grave ; one, perhaps, lies 
fathoms down in the deep, green sea, the waves chanting his re- 
quiem; another, it may be, found a soldier's grave while nobly 
standing up in defence of the liberties of his country ; while of 
the scattered survivors, tossed here and there by the ever-chang- 
ing waves of circumstances, but few will ever meet again ! 
When we have reached the age of forty years we begin to feel 
as if surrounded by a dark, solemn circle of graves — the graves 
of our friends ; and every year thereafter the circle increases, 
till it seems as if the memories of our past friendships were all 
associated with graves. 

" Friend after friend departs ! 

Who has not lost a friend ? 
There is no union here of hearts 

That knows not here an end." 

Here let us remark, however, that it is not the grave alone 
that shows the changeableness of human friendships. Some- 
times a change of outward circumstances will separate those 
who at one time seemed inseparable in their love. Fortune, as 
it is called, has turned against you. Money has made to itself 
wings and flown away. Your property has left you ; your busi- 
ness, once prosperous, has gradually forsaken you ; and from 
walking on the eminences of life, you have been compelled to 
get down into its lowest vales. Ah ! where are now the hosts 



580 THE world's hope. 

of friends that gathered around you in the sunshine of your 
prosperity ? The garden has many admirers and visitors when 
it is blooming with flowers and abounding with fruit, in summer 
days ; but in the winter of its desolation it is forsaken. So is it 
with you. He who was your warmest friend at one time now 
passes you on the street with scarcely a nod of recognition. 
Even some to whom you gave their first start in life, and who 
owe their present prosperity largely to your kindness, will pass 
to the other side of the street to avoid meeting you. You turn 
away from this exhibition of pride and heartlessness with a bit- 
ter contempt, perhaps, for the friendship of the world rankling 
in your heart. 

Sometimes, too, the warmest friendships of earth are sun- 
dered by misrepresentations and misunderstandings. Perhaps 
the tongue of slander has come between you and the warm 
heart of your friend, and now there is coldness in his manner 
towards you and distance on his brow ; yea, instead ol the warm 
tokens of friendship that once passed between you, you now 
meet as strangers in places of public resort. This often makes 
you sick at heart, and leads you to serious reflections on the 
emptiness of all earthly joys. 

Now I invite you to the warm, loving heart of Jesus, who 
proffers you a friendship that neither time nor eternity can 
change. " Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principali- 
ties, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to sep- 
arate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." The world may frown, but He will smile upon you. 
The gay, the vain, the heartless throng, who professed to be 
your friends, may scatter from you in the dark day of adversity, 
but He will come nearer, and you will hear his voice saying, 
*' I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Death can never 
remove this Friend from you, for he "liveth for evermore." 
Your own death, instead of separating you, will only bring you 
nearer to him, " to be forever with the Lord." Come, then, 
and trust upon the unchanging word of this unchangeable 
Friend, who " sticketh closer than a brother," and who, as the 
faithful and true Witness, "never deceives." 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 581 

Jesus is a Faithful Friend. He is faithful to his promises. 
David says : " He has made with me an everlasting covenant, 
ordained in all things and sure." You have a friend who has 
made you a solemn promise. You have the utmost faith in his 
word, and rely upon its fulfillment with the most implicit confi- 
dence ; but when the time arrives for that word to be honored, 
you find you have been depending upon a broken reed — you 
either find the promise deliberately broken or so lightly esteem- 
ed that it was altogether forgotten. But the promises of Jesus 
can be trusted without any danger of disappointment. They 
are said to be "exceeding great and precious." The value of 
a promissory note consists in the certainty that he who gives it 
will honor it. This makes the promises of Christ very pre- 
cious. He cannot fail to keep his word. " The word of the 
Lord endureth forever." 

" Though cisterns be broken, and creatures all fail, 
The word he has spoken will surely prevail." 

It is the confidence which the Christian has in this that 
makes the promises of Jesus so precious to him. A promise 
from one who has failed to perform cannot secure strong faith. 
The thing promised may be precious, and such as we very much 
need and desire ; but fear and hope struggle in our hearts when 
we think of the unreliable character of the promiser. But we 
can rest with joyful confidence upon the word of our heavenly 
Friend. As the wise man so beautifully says — " Blessed be the 
Lord, who hath given rest unto his people, according to all 
that he promised. There shall not fail one word of all his 
promises." His promises prop up the soul when ready to fall. 
Said a dying saint, " I am living on the promises." And good 
food for the soul they make : they impart strength in the great- 
est weakness. 

The Rev. Dr. McLeod says : " The other day I was request- 
ed by a brother minister who was unwell to go and visit a dy- 
ing child. He told me some remarkable things of this boy, who 
was but eleven years of age, and during three years' sickness 
had manifested the most patient submission to the will of God, 



5^2 THE world's HOPE. 

with a singular enlightenment of the Spirit. I went to visit him» 
The child had suffered excruciating pain ; — for years he had 
not known one day's rest. I gazed in wonder at the boy. 
After drawing near to him, and speaking some words of sym- 
pathy, he looked at me with his blue eyes — he could not move ; 
it was the night before he died — and breathed into my ear 
these few words : ' I am strong in Him !' The words were few 
and utterly feeble ; they were the words of a feeble child, in a 
poor home, where the only ornament was that of a meek, quiet, 
and affectionate mother. But these words seemed to lift the 
burden from the very heart ; they seemed to make the world 
more beautiful than ever it was before; they brought home to 
my heart a great and blessed truth. May all of us be ' strong 
in Plim.' " 

Yes, in the most trying circumstances a promise from the lips 
of this faithful Friend can impart vigor and power to the soul. 
This sustained the soul of the great missionary, Dr. Judson, in 
the darkest hour of his trials. When one asked him, " Do you 
think the prospects bright of the speedy conversion of the 
heathen.?" his reply was, "As bright as the promises of God.'* 
So great was his confidence in the faithful promises of his 
heavenly Friend, that his biographer says : " It never appeared 
to him possible for a moment that God could fjail to do precise- 
ly as he had said, and he therefore relied on the divine assur- 
ance with a confidence that excluded all wavering. He be- 
lieved that Burmah was to be converted to Christ just as much 
as he believed that Burmah existed. He believed that he had 
been sent there to preach the gospel ; and he as much believed 
that the Holy Ghost would make his labors, in some way or at 
some time, the means of the salvation of the nation, as he be- 
lieved that there was a Holy Ghost." That is the way to trust 
such a faithful Friend as our adorable Saviour. He likes to be 
so trusted, and those who honor him he will honor. Yea, he 
honors them already in the bestowal of that very faith and the 
sweet peace that is consequent upon it. In ancient times, when 
any distinguished man gave his pledge for the fulfillment of any 
object, he often gave his staff, his signet, or his bracelets, or 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 583 

something of that kind, as an earnest that his promise would be 
honored. So when Jesus gives his people strong faith, so that 
they already feel as much peace as if in possession of the bless- 
ing, it is his pledge that at the right time the promise shall be 
fulfilled. 

There is another sense in which Jesus is a faithful Friend : 
he reproves those whom he loves, and corrects their faults. 
Never trust that friend who will never tell you his faults. We 
are always very sensitive about the faults of those we love ; and 
in proportion to the depth and purity of our love will be the 
fervor of our anxiety to have them purged from their faults and 
imperfections. Jesus tenderly loves his own people ; they are 
dear to him as the apple of his eye — they are his jewels that he 
looks upon with delight, and that he paid a large ransom for. 
He loves to present his people before the world as a proof of 
the efficacy of his blood. " He is not ashamed to call them 
brethren." Now all this implies that he must greatly desire 
their purification. Hence that loving hand that has heretofore 
wiped away their falling tears — that hand that was nailed to the 
Cross for them, and that has abundantly provided for their 
wants, takes up the rod of correction, and chastises those whom 
he loves. Though judgment is his strange work, and he is 
more accustomed to scatter blessings than to use the rod, yet 
in mercy to our souls he lets us feel its smart. Our besetting 
sins must be mortified, else they will be overlooked and gain 
strength by indulgence. Prosperity, like the rain and the sun- 
shine upon weeds, makes our sins grow faster ; so he sends ad- 
versity like the wintry frosts, to nip them in the bud. In his 
wisdom he sees that we have need of " manifold trials," in order 
to purge away our dross. 

Jesus, as a faithful Friend, is under the necessity of putting 
us often through fiery trials. He has no pleasure in our pain, 
but he has in our profit. He may have to take away many 
things from us that we greatly prized, but the object is to take 
away our dross ; and when the believer is brought to see this, 
oh, how it increases his love to his heavenly Friend ! You will 
see him come out of all his trials with a lovely mellowness of 



584 THE world's hope. 

character, the rough points all smoothed off, and a gentleness, 
humility, and mildness of spirit that tell you the Son of God 
has been walking in the furnace with him. He gives himself to 
Jesus with a fresh consecration, and while the tears of his suf- 
erings are yet moist upon his cheeks, he says, ** It is good for 
me that I have been afflicted." He now loves Jesus more than 
ever, and trusts him more than ever. He can already sing a 
song that he will be able to sing in nobler strains in heaven — 
" My Saviour has done all things well!" We would love the 
friend that pulled us out of the fire, even if he had to use great 
roughness to do so. We would love the friend that would drag 
us from a watery grave, even by the hair of the head. " Faith- 
ful are the wounds of a friend." 

I need scarcely say that Jesus is a most loving Friend. His 
love has been proved — not in word, but in deed and in truth. 
We justly think little of the friendship that will make no sacri- 
fices for those it professes to love. But Jesus made sacrifices 
for us, compared with which all that men call such are dwarfed 
into insignificance. Can you for a moment doubt his love? 
Then go to Gethsemane — go to Calvary, and read the story of 
his love in letters of blood ! 

" Ah ! never, never canst thou know 

What then for thee the Saviour bore ; 
The pangs of that mysterious woe 

That wrung his frame at every pore ; 
The weight that pressed upon his brow — 

The fever of his bosom's core ! 
A sweet but solitary beam, 

An emanation from above, 
Glimmers o'er life's uncertain dream : 

We hail that beam and call it Love ! 
But fainter than the pale star's ray 
Before the noontide's blaze of day, 
And lighter than the viewless sand 
Beneath the waves that sweep the strand, 
Is all of love that man can know — 
All that in angels' breasts can glow, 
Compared, O Lord of Hosts, with thine — 
Eternal — fathomless — divine !" 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 585 

In the exercise of that love he supplies the wants of his 
friends — our wafits, not our wishes. We often wish for that 
which if given would prove our ruin. '' My God will supply all 
your wants, according to his riches in Christ Jesus." During 
the famine Joseph labored to supply the wants of his father's 
household. Not one of these dear ones must be allowed to 
want. And will He, whose is "the earth and the fullness there- 
of," suffer his children to lack any good thing } 

The love of Jesus leads him to keep up a constant intercourse 
with his friends. When those who love each other on earth are 
separated for a time, they delight in keeping up an intercourse 
by letter. You will see the husband or wife, when absent from 
home, go to the post office with eager steps to get a communi- 
cation from the loved ones at home ; and you will see them re- 
turn with a sad or a cheerful countenance according to the na- 
ture of the communication received. So Jesus, when about to 
depart from his disciples, said," If I depart I will send the Com- 
forter," and by means of this divine Comforter he still keeps 
up sweet intercourse with his people. Many a sweet promise is 
spoken to the heart — many a word in season is brought home 
to the soul — many a message of love, never to be forgotten, is 
thus communicated from the throne of the Great High Priest. 
And the communications are not all one way. From the dark- 
est and the remotest spot of earth the believer can reach the 
ear of his heavenly Friend. Prayer swiftly reaches him, and is 
a mode of telegraphing as ancient as the promises of God and 
the wants of man. Oh, miserable is that man who has no in- 
tercourse with heaven, and whose case is described in the words, 
" If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me r 

Dear reader, is this heavenly Friend yours, or are you an ene- 
my by wicked works .5* If you are related to the Saviour he 
gives you a mark by which you may know it — you -vvill "do the 
will of your father which is in heaven." There will be in your 
character a likeness to this blessed Friend. There is generally 
a resemblance between near relations — a family likeness by 
which they can be distinguished. At least this is the case with 
all those who are spiritually related to Jesus. "They are con- 



5^6 THE world's hope. 

formed to the likeness of his Son." On the principle that what 
we love we imitate, this resemblance keeps constantly increasing, 
till finally "they shall belike him, for they shall see him as he is." 
If you belong to the glorious household of faith, your heavenly 
Friend will soon take you to himself, to go no more out forever. 
You shall occupy a mansion which he has prepared for you, 
and know the fullness of rapture implied in the words " being 
with the Lord." To be with him is to be absent from all evil 
and present with all good. 

Is the reader compelled to confess to himself that he has no 
interest in Jesus as a friend, and that his heart is preoccupied 
with other friendships ? I pity your condition, and I pray that 
your eyes may now be opened to see the folly of your choice. 
Oh, dark and cheerless is that man's heart that has got no Christ 
in it ! How are you to cross that great gulf between you and the 
eternal world without Christ ? Who is to hold up your sinking 
head amid the swellings of Jordan ? Who is to befriend you 
when huge billows of fire are chasing each other across the 
globe, or when before the judgment tribunal ? 

The gracious Saviour has the highest claims upon your grat- 
itude and love. Summon around you all the blessings of your 
past life— of childhood, manhood, age — all have come from the 
hand of this heavenly Friend. Your earthly friends have been 
the gift of his hand. The home that has sheltered you, the food 
that has nourished you, the health that has glowed in your bo- 
som and danced through your veins, the position of respecta- 
bility you have occupied, and all the enjoyments that have made 
your life pleasant have been the undeserved gifts of the very 
Saviour whose friendship you are rejecting. 

Are you prepared to abandon forever all connection with Je- 
sus .'* Are you ready to cut the cords and break the bands of 
his love, that he has been so tenderly winding around you.? 
Are you willing to say to him, " Depart from me ! I desire not 
a knowledge of thy ways ?'* If not, then why do you hesitate to 
give him your heart ? Perhaps you are ashamed to come boldly 
out from the world and from your companions, and make a 
public profession that Jesus is your Friend. If so, rather be 



THE FRIENDSHIP OF CHRIST. 587 

ashamed of yourself, of your own base ingratitude and life-long 
rebellion, and in simple faith give yourself to Christ in an ever- 
lasting union. 

" When most we need his helping hand, 

This friend is always near ; 
With heaven and earth at his command, 
He waits to answer prayer." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 

" For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor 
them that are tempted." Heb. 2 : i8. 

That there are wicked spirits in the world, filled with intense 
hatred against God and all good, and under the leadership of the 
prince of darkness, Satan or the devil, constantly engaged in 
seeking the ruin of human souls, is a clear doctrine of the Bible. 
Every plain, unbiassed reader of the word of God will find this 
truth taught all through the pages of revelation, sometimes in 
direct statements, and sometimes implied and taken for granted ; 
and it is not until men have some huge error to support, some 
favorite theory of their own to sustain, that they ever think of 
denying the existence of a personal devil, and transforming him 
into nothing more than an abstract principle of evil. Indeed it 
is one of Satan's most masterly strokes to get men to deny his 
existence, and thus be entirely thrown off their guard. Besides, 
when he can induce men to deny his existence, he has them on 
the high road to deny the existence of the Great Jehovah him- 
self, making him but an abstract principle in nature. Men often 
sneer at the doctrine of Satanic agency in the world, and make 
it the butt of their stale witticisms, when they themselves pre- 
sent the most striking illustration of its truth. With their vapid 
jokes in their mouths, and uttering big swelling words of van- 
ity, they are all the time being " led captive by the devil at his 
will." Having put out their eyes, Satan keeps them grinding at 
his mill as his willing slaves. 

There are those who, though not denying the doctrine of Sa- 
tanic agency, yet say they have no personal experience of the 
power of his temptations. This may arise from the fact that 
they are quietly submitting to his control. The slaveholder 
does not send out the bloodhounds and the slavehunter after the 

588 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 589 

slave who is quietly working in his fields, submissive to his will. 
No, it is after the man who has broken his bonds, and is making 
a desperate effort for his liberty, that he raises tlie hue and cry. 
So long as the Israelites were content to toil at the brick-kilns 
of Egypt, and bow themselves submissively to the will of their 
tyrant, Pharaoh, he gave them no particular disturbance ; but 
when the word of deliverance went forth from the mouth of Je- 
hovah, and the people prepared to leave their hard task-masters, 
and started for the land of freedom, then the wrath of the ty- 
rant was awakened, and he sent his blood-thirsty hosts after 
them. You are not sensible of any resistance when your boat 
is going with the current ; but try to stem the flood, and you 
will find you have an opposition to encounter. Sunk in your 
sins, Satan does not need to tempt you — " His goods are at 
peace." Highway robbers do not waylay beggars and seek 
to rob them of their old rags ; it is those whom they hope to plun- 
der of valuable possessions for whose footsteps they watch. 
Piratical ships on the high seas only attack such vessels as they 
think are laden with rich treasure. 

So we find that Christians of the richest spiritual experience 
are most violently attacked by the enemy of souls. Yea, often 
after enjoying the sweetest communications from heaven, the 
happy soul has the darkest attacks from hell, just as Jesus was 
led into the wilderness to be tempted immediately after the 
glorious scenes at his baptism. An old divine says : " The less 
peace you have from the devil, the more pleasure you may take 
in the reflection that you have escaped out of his clutches. 
The more restlessly he follows you with the fury of many 
temptations, the more sweetly and securely, if you give way to 
the counsel of the prophets and the work of faith, may you re- 
pose your wearied soul upon the comfortable assurance of be- 
ing certainly a child of God." Another old writer uses the fol- 
lowing language in repelling Satan's fiery darts : " I am now in 
Christ, a new creature, and that is what troubles thee, Satan. I 
might have continued in sins long enough ere thou wouldst 
liave been vexed at it, but now I see thou dost envy me the 
grace of my Saviour." 



590 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



As every true Christian, then, is likely — nay, certain to be 
tempted, and is not to feel when even fiery temptations come 
as if " some strange thing had happened to him," let me direct 
attention to the succor to be drawn from Christ in every such 
trial. 

We learn, from the life of Jesus that it is no sin to be tempted. 
There are many conscientous and devoted Christians who en- 
dure a great amount of distress because they have not under- 
stood the distinction between sinning and being tempted to sin. 
Their religious history has been rendered unhappy, they have 
been robbed of the peace and the joy which the gospel imparts, 
and have been employed in writing dark and bitter things 
against themselves, for want of a proper consideration of this 
subject in the light of God's word and of our Saviour's life. 
Temptation properly means trial. It is a part of our probation 
upon earth — the means by which the soul is tested. God per- 
mits temptation to come upon us for the very purpose of prov- 
ing us and giving us a better acquaintance with our own hearts. 
Sin consists not in having the temptation but in yielding to it. 
No matter how vile the thoughts that the enemy may thrust into 
the mind, no matter how wicked the action to which his sug- 
gestions may prompt, when the soul hates them, and turns with 
loathing from them, instead of the soul being stained with sin 
by the temptation, it is actually strengthened in virtue. Thus 
Satan's machinations are defeated, and the blow aimed at the 
soul made to fall upon himself. 

It is doubtless on this account that temptation is represented 
to be a blessing to the man who overcomes. '' Blessed is the 
man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried he shall re- 
ceive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them 
that love him." James 1:12. Here the temptation is called 
a t?'ial, not a sin. As our bodily powers develop and strengthen 
by exercise, so is it with the graces of the soul. The soul that 
has resisted and conquered the temptation comes out of it with 
a stronger faith in the promises that sustain him, with a deeper 
conviction of his constant danger, and consequently more dis- 
posed to constant watchfulness, and with a firrner persuasion 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 59! 

that through perfect weakness in i.'.^Tself he is strong in Christ. 
Thus temptation, like affliction, is one f;/ the all things that can 
be made to work together for our good. \..:v.sjh while under 
its influence it is a great trial and most distrest,./. ' to the soul, 
yet it works out for us much spiritual profit. Peter in bis first 
epistle clearly shows this : " Wherein ye greatly rejoice, thorc^h 
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through mani- 
fold temptation ; that the trial of your faith, being much more 
precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with 
fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the ap- 
pearing of Jesus Christ." Here it is taught that there was a 
" need be " for the temptations which were permitted to fall to 
the lot of these Christians, and that though on account of them 
they were at the time in great heaviness of spirit, yet the trial 
was precious to them in its blessed results. 

That to be tempted is not to sin is made very plain in the 
fact that the Lord Jesus was tempted. He, though holy, harm.- 
less, and separate from sinners, was yet tempted as few of his 
followers have ever been. In Matthew 4: i-^— 11 we have an 
account of the three different forms in which our Lord was 
tempted, yet without sin. Surely it is enough if the disciple 
be as his Lord. If he was not exempted from fiery trials of 
this kind, why should his followers expect to be .'' And in his 
resistance of these temptations he has left us a bright example 
that we may follow his steps. On this subject a judicious 
writer says: " We learn from this history that human nature, 
even in its most perfect state, and in all circumstances, is inci- 
dent to temptations: that a pre-eminence of character, station, 
and endowments is attended with proportionable difficulties 
and dangers ; that these trials are no signs of God's displeasure, 
but the appointments of his wisdom and goodness for our bene- 
fit — the means of brightening our virtues and of rendering our 
future crown more illustrious; that Christians have sufficient 
encouragement, from the tenderness and sympathy which Christ 
acquired by his sufferings, to expect all necessary succor under 
their infirmities and trials. We cannot faint when we listen to 
his animating voice addressing us from, heaven : ' To him that 



592 THE world's HOPE. 

overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I 
also overcame, and am set with my Father on his throne.' " 

Before leaving this part of the subject permit me to call my 
reader's attention to the manner in which our Lord resisted the 
attacks of the wicked one. It was by the word of God. To 
every fresh assault he presented the shield of God's eternal 
truth. To every suggestion of Satan's hellish logic he presented 
the words, " It is written." We have a powerful and subtle foe 
to contend with, and if we meet him with the weapons of our 
own reasoning we shall surely be foiled ; but if we meet him 
with the " Sword of the Spirit, the word of God," we shall come 
off victorious. The father of lies quails before the truth as it 
comes fresh and burning from the lips of Jehovah. One of 
Satan's constant efforts is to get people to neglect their Bibles ; 
and when he succeeds in this for a time, then he will become 
bolder, and present dark infidel suggestions to the mind, with a 
view to rob them of the consolations of the Bible altogether. 
Then, if this latter temptation is not promptly resisted, but 
wicked and infidel thoughts are indulged, the enemy will tell 
the soul that it is now utterly gone — that all hope of ever being 
better may as well be abandoned. Oh, how much mental suf- 
fering I have known persons to go through from this cause ! — 
and all because they did not resist the devil in the first place, 
when tempted to neglect their Bibles. 

The most persistent attacks of the enemy of souls is upon 
OMX faith. So long as the mind rests with implicit confidence 
on the finished work of Jesus, and stands upon the promises of 
God as upon a rock, all the powers of hell cannot shake it. The 
chief danger of temptation consists in the mind getting turned 
away from Christ. When Peter thought of the servants, and of 
their scorn and derision, instead of keeping his mind fixed up- 
on his Master and his approbation, he fell into grievous sin. 
And so it is in every case; faith must be shaken and unbelief 
introduced into the heart before it will "give place to the devil." 
Christ's strength is the only true succor. His name has still 
power to drive Satan from the souls of men. The truth as it is 
in Jesus is a wall of fire around the soul, which the lion may 
roar around, but cannot break through. 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 593 

The apostle says, " This is the victory that overcometh the 
world, even our faith." When faith is strong the soul is forti- 
fied at every point where Satan makes his attack. Our dread of 
ridicule is a strong feeling in our nature. To be exposed to the 
laughter of those around us is to many minds far more distress- 
ing than to be exposed to severe bodily suffering. Many a 
young man have I known whom no threats, no personal abuse, 
could have turned aside from his seriousness and thoughtful- 
ness on the subject of religion, and yet who has been intimi- 
dated by the laughter of a few fools. In the day of judgment 
it will be found that multitudes have bartered away their souls 
to avoid the sneers of a class of poor flippant, silly triflers, that 
in their hearts .they could not but despise. Now faith lifts the 
soul above this, by making the favor and approbation of God 
supreme. We see this illustrated in the case of Noah. In the 
midst of the ungodly crew by which he was surrounded he 
must have been exposed to an unmerciful torrent of ridicule, as 
he went on from day to day building the ark and warning his 
neighbors of an approaching deluge, while the heavens were all 
bright, and everything indicated that nature's usual beneficent 
operations were all going on. But he had faith in God, and he 
let them laugh on, " sorry," as one says, " to see so many fools, 
but glad to think that they considered him as an outlaw to their 
number." Faith in God's word, then, defeats Satan in the use 
of his chief instruments for the destruction of souls. 

Another passion of human nature that the enemy works upon 
is love of fame. To stand well in the estimation of others, to 
have their names spoken of in terms of high approval, to occupy 
a lofty position among their fellow-men, is the object for which 
many live — the thing that they set before them as the great 
business of life. Satan takes advantage of this, and represents 
the utter impossibility of being religious until they shall have 
attained this coveted position in the estimation of their fellow- 
men. Hence we read of the chief rulers in the days of the 
Saviour, that the principal obstacle that stood in the way of 
their being saved was that " they loved the praise of men more 
than the praise of God." They feared being put out of the 



594 THE WORLDS HOPE. 

synagogue, of losing their position among their fellow-men, and 
of being exposed to the hatred and persecution of the Phari- 
sees. Jesus said to all such, ''How can ye believe who receive 
honor one of another." But faith in Jesus reverses this state of 
things, and makes the soul esteem the praise of God above 
everything else. The approbation of God becomes of infinite 
importance — that of the world comparatively valueless. Moses 
is a striking illustration of this. " By faith Moses, when he 
was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's 
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of 
God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming 
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." 
This was a noble and hetoic resolution, involving great sacrifices, 
and yet faith enabled him to do it. Egypt, with all her glories, 
lay at his feet ; a throne, at that time the most illustrious on 
earth, was within his grasp: and yet faith enabled him to reject 
it all, and to join himself to a despised people — a people driven 
out daily to their wasting toil, as slaves under the caprice of a 
tyrant. Here, then, we see how faith in Jesus can render pow- 
erless another of Satan's temptations, the love of human praise. 
So it is with the love of money. To be rich, and to possess 
the splendor, the elegances and the influence in the world which 
riches give, is the god of many. It is that for which thousands 
sacrifice their souls. A young man, a member of my congrega- 
tion, and with whom the Holy Spirit had long striven, confessed 
that the chief reason why he did not accept of Christ was that 
he thought it would interfere with his business, and that he was 
determined to get on in the world, as he called it. This was 
the means by which Satan sought to effect the ruin of this soul. 
There are thousands of such cases all around us, though they 
may not speak it out with the same candor as he. Their in- 
creasing treasures, their splendid business, their magnificent 
dwellings, with all their beautiful surroundings, are all the 
price -of blood — the blood of their souls ! — not that there is any- 
thing wicked in being rich, or anything in religion to hinder a 
man being an energetic and successful man of business; but 
Satan has worked upon their love of money, and persuaded 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 595 

them that in some way religion would interfere with their tem- 
poral success in life. 

Now faith in Jesus would at once break this snare. It teaches 
us that we are not our own, and that we are sent into this 
world not to make money, but to glorify God in everything that 
we do. We are to be dilligent and enterprising in business, but 
it is to be for God. If we make money it is not to be to love it 
and make an idol of it, but to glorify God with it. This is the 
difference between the Christian and the man of the world. 
The Christian may toil, and struggle, and make sacrifices of his 
ease to make money, just as the worldly man does, but the mo- 
tive is as different as heaven and hell. He does it not for the 
gratification of selfishness, not from love of gain, not to feed van- 
ity, but to glorify God. He feels that he is the Lord's steward, 
that he is doing business for God, and that the loving eye of 
God is every moment fixed upon him with approval. This is 
something of which the world can form no true conception. 
The motives drawn from the Cross are too high and ennobling 
to be appreciated by carnal men. 

One of our missionaries, while laboring among the Cherokees 
in Georgia, was visited by a skeptic who wished to find some 
accusation against the missionary work. After staying at the 
station long enough to be satisfied that the labor to be per- 
formed was most arduous and self-denying, he put some ques- 
tions to tlie missionary's wife. 

" Well, I suppose your husband gets a very high salary for 
such a service V 

" Oh, yes," she replied. 

*' How much does he get, madam .' Five hundred dollars.'" 

" Oh, yes ; more than that !" 

"One thousand dollars.?" • 

"Oh, more than that !" 

"One thousand five hundred dollars.?" 

" Oh, much more than that !" 

" More than that!" 

"Yes, 'one hundred fold in this present time, and in the 
world to come life everlasting !* " 



59^ THE world's hope. 

" Poh ! it was money I meant," said he. 

*'As to that, sir," she replied, "the property here is owned 
by the mission, and we have the promise of such living as you 
see, while we are able to render such services as I have spok- 
en of," 

Another way in which Jesus Christ succors the tempted is by 
intercession on their behalf. When Peter was tempted our 
Lord said to him, " Satan hath desired to have thee, that he may 
sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith 
fail not." And as an evidence that this was not an exceptional 
case, we are told that " If any man sin, we have an advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." And also that " He 
ever liveth to make intercession for us." When the soul has 
been tempted, and has fallen and deeply sinned, the next effort 
of the enemy is to drive it into despair. The mind iskeptbrood- 
.ing upon the sin till hope dies out, and bitter remorse, with its, 
unspeakable agony, takes possession of it. 

" The man that broods o'er sinful deeds 

Is Hke a scorpion girt with fire : 

In circles narrowing as it glows, 

The flames around the captive close ; 

So does the guilty soul expire, 

Like to the scorpion girt with fire. 

So writhes the mind remorse has riven — 

Unfit for earth, undoom'd to heaven ; 

Darkness above, despair beneath — 

Around it flame, within it death !" 

We cannot sink into such a state of mind if we look at our 
Great Advocate. " If any man sin," let him not despair, let him 
not seek to flee from God, let him not seek to cleanse himself 
from his sin, but go at once to the Advocate provided for such 
an emergency. Notice the expression — " we have an Advocate. " 
We do not need to wait till some arrangements can be made to 
meet our case. We may go to a great physician, and he may 
be either away from home, or so engaged with other patients 
that he cannot now attend to our case ; but without delay, with- 
out hindrance of any kind, Jesus can meet our case. Through 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 597 

all temptations he has his sympathizing eye upon us, and will 
never cease to plead for and strengthen the soul that trusts in 
him. 

" The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose, 
I will not, I will not desert to his foes ; 
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, 
I'll never — no, never — no, never forsake !" 

Jesus speaks to us that sweet promise, " God is faithful, who 
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but 
will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be 
able to bear it." The deeper the sense of your sin, let it drive you 
the closer to Christ. Augustine said : " The more desperate my 
case was, the more I admired my physician." A good man, 
when dying, being much tempted by the enemy, silenced him 
by saying, " I die wrapped in the merits of Jesus, and I shall lie 
down in the grave wrapped in the merits of Jesus, and I shall 
rise in the morning of the resurrection wrapped in the merits of 
Jesus." The devil still flies before such arguments, saying, 
'' What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God !" 

Some Christians are greatly troubled with a constant dread 
of falling away, and bringing a reproach upon the cause of 
Christ. This is often a temptation of the devil, and shows that 
he can transform himself into the appearance of an angel of 
light. His greatest wish is to get you to fall away, and dis- 
grace by your fall the cause of Christ ; and yet he seeks to stir 
up great solicitude in your mind about falling aw^ay. If he can- 
not succeed in keeping yow from Christ, he will seek to disturb 
your peace i?t Christ as much as possible. By getting you to 
fix your mind upon yourself, and upon your danger of falling 
away, your eyes are turned away from Jesus, and love to him 
begins to give place to fear for yourself. The Rev. John New- 
ton says, " Love and fear are like the sun and moon — seldom 
seen together." Your eyes being turned from Jesus, your love 
to God begins to decline, and the fear that hath torment begins 
to take its place. Thus, in another form your faith has been 
attacked, and the love that casteth out fear weakened. 

This attack upon your faith is all the more dangerous that it 



59^ THE world's hope. 

comes in such a pious form. If your mind can be occupied 
with fears for your religion, or anything else that will turn you 
away from entire trust in the Saviour, the enemy's object will 
be accomplished. Thus, while the deceiver is fixing your mind 
upon some damage to your faith some time in the future, he 
has actually succeeded in weakening your faith 7iow, by turn- 
ing your attention away from Christ. Shake yourself loose 
from the delusion, and give good heed to the Lord's words — 
"Look unto me and be ye saved." When Peter looked at Je- 
sus, and thought of his invitation, he could walk upon the sea ; 
but when he began to look at the waves, and to think of him- 
self and his danger, then he began to sink. His faith within 
him gave way first, before the sea under him began to give way. 
We are told that " when he saw the wind boisterous he was 
afraid." But did he not know this before he started } Nothing 
new in the way of difficulty had occurred but his own unbelief 
There was nothing to prevent his continuing his journey that 
might not have prevented its beginning. 

Thus, the same power that drew you to Christ at first can 
keep you in Christ. The same faith that gives you joy and 
confidence in Christ for a day or a week can keep you for a 
lifetime. The people of God are described as those " who are 
kept by the power of. God, through faith, unto salvation." What 
better security could we ask than the Almighty arm around us, 
and the Eternal Truth pledged for our defense.'* God's people 
are dear to him as the apple of his eye. He sees us in the wil- 
derness, exposed to many perils and struggling with a relentless 
foe ; but he never loses sight of us for a moment, and though 
unseen we can hear his voice, that thrills through the soul of 
the tempted and tried — " Fear not, for I am with thee." " It is 
I : be not afraid." 

Akin to the temptation from the fear of falling away is that 
of the constant dread of self-deception. That thousands are 
deceiving themselves, and being deceived by others, is a sad 
truth; and if such could be startled from their self-security, 
and made to fear, it would be a good thing. But Satan will not 
disturb such. It is when the young Christian is rejoicing in 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEiMPTED. 599 

the Saviour, his happy heart glowing under the influence of his 
first love, fehat the temptation will come and cast a dark cloud 
of doubt over his bright prospects. This great solicitude of 
Satan who has always been the deceiver of souls, not to have 
you deceived, is a circumstance that ought to awaken your sus- 
picion. The mind cannot be strongly occupied with two things 
at one time ; and when it becomes intensely engaged with the 
danger of being deceived, the attention is turned away from 
Christ. Then the sweet peace of simple trust is gone, and the 
distressed mind is set to the unprofitable work of analyzing its 
own feelings to see if it is not deceived. The days and nights 
of such souls become unhappy, because they are looking at 
themselves instead of looking to Christ — consulting their own 
mental states and changes instead of the plain testimony of God 
concerning his Son. 

There is but one way by which this temptation can be con- 
quered and Satan's w^eapons turned against himself, and that is 
by making use of it to lead you to take a fir7ner hold of Christ. 
It is unnecessary for me to enumerate along list of temptations, 
for the object of the enemy in all of them is to keep the soul 
from Christ. The attack is invariably upon our faith^ for if 
that stands the shock all is secure. We stand by faith if we 
stand at all. We are to walk by faith, and not by sight. Hence 
says the apostle : " Above all, taking the shield of faith^ where- 
with ye shall be able lo quench the fiery darts of the wicked." 
" But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breast- 
plate of faith y 

If tempted to think ourselves self-deceived, let us ask our- 
selves — " On what has my hope been founded } Has it been 
on myself, my prayers, my feelings, my experiences, or my 
works } Has it been on the opinions, or counsels, or prayers, 
or services of my fellow-men .? Is it upon the merits of Jesus 
only } And if so, was not that the only hope of John, Paul, 
Peter, and all the Christians of primitive times "> Is that not 
the ground upon which God commands me to build my confi- 
dence } I have done so, and would he deceive me by telling me 
to build upon what would give way under me } No ! — I am 



6oo THE world's hope. 

now upon the Rock of ages, and no power can drive me thence!" 
Thus the temptation will be overruled for our good — to 
strengthen our faith and confirm our hold of the truth ; for God 
can make the wrath both of men and of devils to praise him. 
If we would resist temptation successfully we must live in the 
constant use of believing prayer. There is much that is called 
prayer that neither heaven nor hell regards as such. There is 
the prayer of mere habit or form ; there is the prayer of pride 
or human merit, performed chiefly to boast of; there is the prayer 
of selfishness, performed to satisfy conscience, and to give a 
man peace with himself; there is the prayer to the public, done 
to be seen of men ; there is the prayer of wrath and bitterness, 
made a medium of conveying something offensive to the ears of 
those we dislike. Now, no doubt it is quite true what the poet 
has said, that 

'■ Satan trembles when he sees 
The weakest saint upon his knees." 

yet it would require a great many such prayers as those 
described above to make Satan tremble. He would just as 
soon have men praying in such a way as swearing. It is the 
prayer of faith^ that goes with the blood of Christ into the holy 
of holies — that takes the new and living way of access to God 
— that sends up every cry of the heart perfumed with the pre- 
cious blood of Jesus, which makes the enemy tremble and flee. 
The biographer of Robert Hall tells us that on one occasion he 
got into a discussion with some person in a promiscuous com- 
pany. He became very warm, and no doubt felt himself under 
a strong temptation to the indulgence of a bitter spirit in his 
remarks, when he instantly left the brother with whom he was 
conversing, and going to a retired part of the room, one heard 
him in an earnest whisper say, " O Lord Jesus, calm my per- 
turbed spirit !" He then returned to his friend, and continued 
the discussion in the most mild and Christian temper. On an- 
other occasion, when tempted to pride on account of his great 
popularity, Mr, Greene says, " I found him praying in a retired 
part of the garden. He was alonCy and in an agony. Uncon- 



CHRIST SUCCORING THE TEMPTED. 6o' 

Scious of my approach, with the deepest expressions of humility 
and self-abasement he mourned over the imperfections of his 
best services, and prayed that through the blood of sprinkling 
the iniquity of his holy things might be forgiven. Like Jacob 
of old, he wrestled with God — he prayed with strong cries and 
tears." This is the way to resist the devil and he will flee from 
you." 

At the same time we must avoid all temptation. When we 
pray "lead us not into temptation," we must not rush into it our- 
selves. We must shun the appearance of evil, and hate the 
garment spotted by the flesh. We must not even seem to come 
short. We must not dabble around the edges of sin. We must 
not te)7ipt the devilto tempt us. In short, we must aim at eminent 
holiness of heart, great nearness to God, and much likeness to 
Christ. Above all, draw constant strength from your j)erfect 
Saviour. His omnipotent hand will hold you, if you commit 
yourself entirely to him. When Antigonus was about to engage 
in a fight at sea with Ptolemy, the pilot cried, " How many are 
they more than we I" But the King said, "It is true, if yoif 
count their numbers ; but for how many do you value me V' 
If you have only Christ with you, you need not care who is 
against you. 

" Jesus, in weaknes.s of ihi.s flesh, 
When Satan grasps me for his prey, 

Oh, give me victoiy afresh, 

And speed me on my stranger way !" 



CHAPTER XIV. 



PARTING COUNSELS. 



Dear Reader : It has been our privilege in the preceding 
pages to stand at the Cross of Christ, that only safe place for a 
sinner, and together to contemplate the glories of Him who is 
the "chiefest among ten thousand, and the one altogether 
lovely." We must now part company, to meet at the bar of 
God, where I must give an account for what I have written, and 
you for what you have read. It has been my wish to make the 
plan of salvation plain, so that you might see it in all its beauti- 
ful simplicity ; but as I am aware that the religion of many con- 
sists in boasting of their clear views, and that such is the self- 
righteousness of the heart that men make a Saviour of their 
simple faith, instead of going to the Great Author and Object of 
faith, my earnest prayer has been that the Holy Spirit might take 
these vitally important truths and impress them on your hearts. 

When the Roman army besieged Jerusalem, and took it after 
the bravest and most determined resistance on the part of the 
Jews that the world has ever seen, the Temple was the last part 
to yield. The Romans could only enter it over piles of the 
brave dead ; but when they did enter, we are told that they 
were astonished to find no images there. In their own temples 
at Rome images of their gods appeared everywhere ; but there, 
neither within the veil nor without, could anything of the kind 
be found. Many emblems of God's "grace might be found in 
every part of that magnificent building, but there was no graven 
or sculptured image of the God of Israel. 

So it is still. All the great objects of our faith and hope are 
invisible. The Great Father to whom we pray, the gracious 
Son through whom we present our supplications, the blessed 
Spirit that gives the praying heart, the heaven we s-ek to reach, 
and the hell we seek to avoid, are all unseen. The things that 

602 



PARTING COUNSELS. 



603 



are seen are temporal, the things that are not seen are eternal. 
It would be easy for God to make himself visible to us every 
day, but his design is that we should live by faith, not by sight, 
This very invisibility of the great things of eternity forms an 
important part of our probation. Those who have faith in the 
words of God live as seeing Him who is invisible ; whilst those 
who live in unbelief live but a kind of animal existence, in- 
fluenced only by the things which are seen and which are tem- 
poral. Because Jehovah's displeasure is " wrath to come," they 
think it never will come. Because He does not appear in judg- 
ment when they supposed he would, they come to the conclu- 
sion that he never will appear, and sneeringly cry, " Where is 
the promise of his coming.'' for since the fathers fell asleep all 
things continue as they were from the beginning of the crea- 
tion." 

But this invisibility in which the Eternal One has so long 
wrapped himself is yet to be laid aside. He is coming forth 
from his long concealment, when every eye shall see him, every 
ear hear him, and all stand before his great white throne. 
There is a great propriety in the divine arrangement, that the 
same Being that died for the world is to judge the world. 
Hence Jesus himself tells us : " The sign of the Son of Man 
shall be seen in Heaven, and all the tribes of the earth shall see 
him coming with power and with great glory." "He shall 
come in his own glory, and in his Father's glory, and in 
the glory of the holy angels." There will be a wondrous con- 
trast between hisyfrj/and his second coming. Then he came in 
the humility of a man of sorrows, now he shall come in all the 
grandeur of his Godhead. Then he came as the servant ; now 
he shall come as the Supreme Sovereign of the universe. Then 
he came in seeming weakness; now clothed visibly with the 
might of Omnipotence. Then his blessed brow was encircled 
with thorns, in mockery of a crown ; now it is adorned with an 
undisputed crown of glory. Then his face was often wet with 
tears ; now before its brightness the sun grows dim. Then he 
was the despised prisoner ; now the mighty conqueror. Then 
he was arraigned as a criminal ; now he is the universal Judge. 



6o4 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

And how fit is it that the hand that was nailed to the Cross 
for us should hold the sceptre of judgment. None can suppose 
that the Holy One, who so loved sinners as to yield up his life 
for them, will be unnecessarily severe. It cannot be thought 
that the gacious Saviour, who died to honor and satisfy justice, 
will himself be unjust. He who prayed for us in many a lonely 
spot, and on many a dark night, is to speak the sentence of 
judgment over us. If we are condemned, then, it can be from 
no want of tenderness, love, or justice on the part of the Judge, 
but from the inherent badness of our own case. He who is the 
Judge was also the Advocate ; and if the curse of condemna- 
tion comes from his lips, it must be because no other sentence was 
possible in the eternal fitness of things. Rejecting a Saviour's 
cleansing blood, they are unfit for heaven, for the society of 
pure spirits, and there is nothing left for them but the blackness 
of darkness forever. A Christless soul must sink into hell by 
the very weight of its own sins. 

The day of the Lord's appearing will be a glorious day for 
those who are found clothed in the pure robe of Christ's right- 
eousness. It is too common, in speaking of the judgment, to 
picture it as a day of unmixed terror — " a God in grandeur, and 
a world on fire !" and it is true that to the sinner it will be a 
day of unspeakable horror; but the believer has nothing to 
fear, but everything to hope from that day. The pardon he ob- 
tained by faith at the mercy seat will then be confirmed by the 
decisions from the judgment seat. His Brother is his Judge, 
and therefore he has nothing to fear. He whom he loved 
above all others now occupies a position above all others, and 
he will share his glory with his friends. Long ago he prayed — 
" Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me 
where lam, that they may behold my glory." And now the 
prayer is to be fully answered, for body and soul re-united and 
glorified, he says to them, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, in- 
herit the kingdom prepared for vou from the foundation of the 
world." 

Dear Reader, it is certain as your own existence, certain as the 
existence of the God with whom you hsve to da that ye\i must 



PARTING COUNSELS. 605 

meet Jesus as your Judge. But how are you to meet him ? 
Shall it be as one who has rejected his offers, and trampled up- 
on his blood, and done despite to his grace ? Oh, think of the 
awful expression — "the wrath of the Lamb!" That wrath will 
come upon you to the uttermost, and beat upon your exposed 
soul in one eternal storm ! Oh, flee from this wrath to come ! 

The judgment is not only to be in the hands of Christ, but 
also the resurrection of the dead. His own triumph over the 
grave is a pledge of the resurrection of the dead, and he says, 
" I am the resurrection and the life." " He that seeth the Son, 
and believeth on him, shall have everlasting life, and I will 
raise him up at the last day." While we feel that the soul is 
the better part of our nature, yet we cannot but feel some anxi- 
ety about the soul's earthly temple — that body which is fear- 
fully and wonderfully made. The mother looks down into the 
cold, damp grave, where her darling babe is laid, and asks with 
much solicitude, " Shall this precious dust ever be restored to 
me .''" Though Jesus were to save the soul, yet without the 
resurrection of the body his work would be incomplete. When 
God made man at first a perfect and sinless being, it was with a 
united body and soul; and Jesus, in destroying the works of 
the devil, not only rescues the soul from the power of sin, but 
the body also from the power of death. If death were allowed 
to reign forever over the body, Christ's work would not be a 
finished work. Christ came to deliver us from the curse of the 
law, which included death spiritually to the soul and death 
physically to the body! He accomplishes this b/ giving life 
to both the soul and body. Believers ^^'-J irom him his own 
spirit, so that as he lives they shall .ive also, and he shall 
give them a body like unto his own glorified body. " When he 
shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.'* 
But we are told of some who shall rise to the resurrection of 
condemnation. Ah ! my reader ! shall it be you .? After all 
your light and privileges, shall that day so blessed to the be- 
liever, bring you nothing but condemnation ? 

Dear Keader, — I have thus sought in the preceding pages to 
make good the title of this book, "None but Christ." My 



6o6 THE world's hope. 

heart's desire and prayer before God is that He may be all and 
in all to you. My soul yearns over you in love, and longs to 
have you complete in Christ. A man, poor in the things of this 
world, but rich in faith, said, "I have lost all my property; I 
have lost all my relatives — my last son is dead ; I have lost- my 
hearing and my eyesight ; I am all alone, old and poor ; but it 
makes no difference — Christ never grows old, Christ never is 
poor, Christ never dies, and Christ never will forsake me !" The 
holy and devoted Grimshaw says : " When I die I shall then 
have my greatest grief and my greatest joy : my greatest grief 
that 1 have done so little for Jesus; my greatest joy, that Jesus, 
has done so much for me. My last words shall be, ' Here goes 
an unprofitable servant!'" To have such a high appreciation 
of Christ — to have your soul filled with his presence — " Christ 
in you the hope of glory," is to be exalted to the highest honor 
in the universe. 

Let it be none but Christ in the matter of your justification 
There never was a more important question presented to the 
human mind than "How shall a man be just with God.'*' 
There have been many answers given to the question, but they 
are all founded upon " vanity and lies " except one — " Believe 
in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Condemned 
and cursed by the law which we have broken, it is in vain to 
expect to be saved by it, for " by the deeds of the law can no 
flesh be justified," seeing that all have sinned and come short 
of the glory of God, and that the law demands absolute and per- 
fect obedience. We cannot be justified by our sorrow for sin, 
for however deep the sorrow of the criminal for his crime, that 
does not satisfy the law which he has broken, nor make it re- 
lax its hold upon him. We cannot be justified by our good res- 
olutions, and good feelings, and frames of mind, for these still 
leave our past sins, with their accumulated guilt, pressing upon 
the conscience and crying to heaven for vengeance. We can- 
not be justified by our prayers, for petitions, however earnest 
and however often presented, cannot satisfy the claims of the 
law upon the criminal. We cannot be justified by the merits 
or intercessions of our fellow men, for being sinners themselv^es. 



PARTING COUNSELS 607 

they cannot possibly atone for us. In short, " Without the shed- 
ding of blood there can be no remission of sin " for a sinner ; 
and Jesus having shed his blood, and thereby satisfied the ut- 
most claims of the law, the soul that believes in him is "justified 
from all things," and accepted forever. 

Let it be none but Christ in the matter of your sanctification. 
" Christ is made unto us sanctification." He not only pardons 
the guilt of sin, but gives us the victory over its power. Love 
to him supplies the only true motive to holiness. Love to 
Christ makes us hate sin, and leads us to a constant warfare 
against our inward corruptions. All attempts at holiness of 
heart and life that do not spring from motives drawn from the 
Cross invariably end in failure. As the branch of the vine can 
only bear fruit as long as it abides in the vine, so we can only 
be fruitful in holiness by abiding in Christ. The more Christ 
is kept before the mind, the stronger will be our faith ; and the 
stronger our faith, the more ardent will be our love ; and the 
more ardent onr love, the more prompt, cheerful and steady 
will be our obedience. Our heavenly hope, our Christian zeal, 
our benevolence, our meekness, our humility, and all the graces 
of the Spirit, will be vigorous in proportion as we draw all our 
life from Christ, becoming brighter and brighter to the perfect 
day. 

Let it be none but Christ with us in the matter of ordinances. 
Some lay great stress on ordinances, putting them in His place 
who instituted them, and who can alone give them any efficacy. 
AVhat is the Lord's Supper without Christ } A well without 
water — a body without a soul — an empty ceremony ! If his 
broken body and shed blood is not discerned, but dependence 
is placed in the outward observance, it becomes perverted to the 
destruction of the soul. What is Baptism without Christ ? An 
empty and unmeaning form. But when Christ is in it, it is the 
act of a loving and obedient heart, and a beautiful symbol of the 
facts of the gospel. 

Let it be 7ione but Christ in all your religious duties. Your 
prayers must be presented through the shed blood of Christ, or, 
like Cain's offering, they will be rejected. Attend upon and 



6o8 THE world's hope. 

value that preaching most which is full of Christ ; for without 
this, whatever may be the preacher's talent, whatever the splen- 
dor of his eloquence or the power of his logic, he must be but a 
blind leader of the blind. In attending prayer meetings, let it 
be to meet with Christ. His presence is promised ; and where 
the King is, there is his court. If you go to meet with Christ, 
you will not be disappointed ; if you go from any other motives, 
leanness will come upon your soul. When you labor for souls, 
let it be with Christ's Spirit and under his high commission. 
When you contribute for the support of the gospel, let it be not 
as conferring a favor upon Christ, but as esteeming it a great 
honor to do anything for Him who, though rich, yet for your 
sake became poor. Let all your duties, whether public or pri- 
vate, be steeped in evangelical motives, and performed as under 
His eye who went about constantly doing good. 

Let it be none but Christ in thinking of your future home. It 
is he who has prepared that happy place for you, and his pres- 
ence there will form its chief attraction. " I had rather depart 
and be with Christy which is far better." To get a crown from 
his hand and a welcome from his lips will be unspeakable glory. 
In short, for sickness or for health, for prosperity or adversity, 
for life or death, for time or eternity, let your constant motto 
be— 

"NONE BUT CHRIST." 



Part III 



GLAD TIDINGS; 



OR 



Believe and Live, 



GLAD TIDINGS 



CHAPTER I. 



GOOD TIDINGS. 



There is much misunderstanding in the minds of many in 
regard to the word "Gospel," Some think of everything they 
hear preached from the Bible under this general appellation. 
Whether the minister be preaching on the being of a God, the 
immortality of the soul, or on the moral duties which arise from 
our social relationships, it is all, by such persons, called preach- 
ing the Gospel. Some time ago we heard a minister preach on 
the subject of prayer. It was a faithful and powerful sermon. 
It lifted the soul up to God, and made many a hearer say, " It 
is good to be here." At the close of the services we heard one 
of the hearers say to another, " That was a fine Gospel sermon." 
Now, the fact is, there was not one word of Gospel in it. A 
man may preach a whole year, or for that part, a whole lifetime, 
and preach truth, too, and yet not preach the Gospel. 

The celebrated Andrew Fuller once heard a young brother 
preach a sermon which might be called eloquent and learned. 
When the preacher came down from the pulpit. Fuller laid his 
hand upon his shoulder, and said, " I thank you for your ser- 
mon ; it was very good, as far as it went.''. "As far as it 
went !" said the preacher. " Yes," said Fuller, " as far as it 
went, for Christ was not preached." " But Christ was not in 

6ti 



6l2 THE world's HOPE. 

the Text," replied the young man. " My brother," said Fuller, 
*' there are no by-lanes in this country which do not lead up to 
the King's highway." All the lines of truth centre in Jesus, and 
that is a poor dry morsel of a sermon that does not contain 
enough of the Gospel, to lead any inquiring soul present to 
pardon and peace. We greatly admire the sentiment of one of 
the ancient Fathers — " Were the highest heavens my pulpit, and 
the whole hosts of the redeemed my audience, and eternity my 
day, Jesus alone would be my text." 

The Gospel means' "good news," and is a proclamation from 
the God of heaven to his guilty creatures on earth, that for the 
sake of what Jesus has done, he will pardon all who trust in 
his faithful work, and receive them as welcomely as if they had 
never sinned at all. It comes to tell of a way by which we 
can come to God as joyfully as Adam could before he fell. 
God's Fatherly voice sounds to us from the heavens, saying, 
" This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The 
good news is in that sentence. Observe, the voice from heaven 
did not say, with whom I am well pleased, though that is true. 
Neither does it ^2.y for whom I am well pleased, though that is 
also true. But it says iii whom I am well pleased. It is only 
when we see God in Christ Jesus that we can see a well-pleased 
God. In that one sentence^ God himself preached the Gospel to 
that awe-struck throng which stood upon the banks of Jordan ; 
and through them to all the ends of the earth. 

If we approach God out of Christ, he is a consuming fire. 
Let the best man that ever lived come before God with the best 
action he ever performed, and out of Christ God cannot be well 
pleased with him. His best performances are in God's pure 
eyes corrupted to the very core by sin. But let the vilest sin- 
ner come to God in Christ, and there is lifted up upon him a 
reconciled countenance, the smile of approval beams upon his 
soul with the very joy of heaven, and lifting up his eyes to the 
face of the Judge, he exclaims, " Abba, Father.'.' Indeed a 
holy and a just God could bestow upon guilty man no favor, 
either temporal or spiritual, except through the worthiness of 
His Son. 



GOOD TIDINGS. 613 

A person once said, " How am I to know that Jesus died for 
me ?" The reply was, " Do you acknowledge that you have 
been all your life a sinner?" "I do." "And do you believe 
that the desert of sin is the wrath and curse of God.''" "Yes." 
^' Why, then, is it that you have been all your life long getting 
nothing from God's hand but blessings.'*" This inquirer saw 
at once that the very sparing forbearance of God that had per- 
mitted him to live, and the goodness of God that strewed his 
pathway with blessings, could only come to him through the 
death of Jesus. 

Suppose, my reader, that a friend comes into your house to- 
day and says, " I have good news for you;" you would under- 
stand by that, that he had something to tell you that would 
make you happy. And if after he has made his statement you 
are not any happier than before, one of two things must be the 
case, — either your friend was mistaken as to the nature of the 
intelligence, and it was not calculated to make you happy ; or 
else you did not believe what he said. Now, when God sends 
the Gospel to us he says it is good news, that is, something in- 
tended to make us happy ; and if after we have heard it we are 
not made happy by it, either God calls that good news which is 
not so, or we have not believed his word. Yes, the only reason 
why you, my reader, are not now rejoicing in the forgiving love 
of God, is that you have not believed his testimony concerning 
his Son. You can believe your fellowmen when they say they 
have good news for you ; you can take up the newspaper, with 
a face beaming with expectation, when you are told there is 
good news for you in it ; and yet your neglected Bible lies in 
your houses containing something calculated and intended to 
make you unspeakably happy ; and you will not believe it. 

O, it is matter of vastest difficulty to get men to believe that 
the whole work of their salvation is finished already ! They 
will acknowledge that the favor of God is a precious thing ; they 
will speak of making their peace with God ; and hope that he 
will be reconciled to them. But tell them of a love that has 
already made the peace; tell them of a grace that has already 
finished the salvation ; tell them of a goodness so abundant 



6i4 THE world's hope. 

and overflowing that it has absolutely left them nothing to 
do but to believe that all is done, — and you seem to them as one 
who mocks. Whenever they think of becoming serious, of cul- 
tivating good feelings, of breaking off their outward sins, and 
of prayer, they think of things that are to qualify them for com- 
ing to Jesus, and that will make God pleased with them ; for- 
getting that until they go to Jesus through faith, and come to 
God for acceptance through the righteousness of his Son, they 
have not taken the \ try first step in true religion. 

Self-righteousness, in some form or other, is the universal sin 
of man. Wherever man is found to exist, it reigns supreme in 
the unrenewed heart. The moment the sinner begins to think 
or speak on religion, this evil shows itself. With the light of 
the Gospel blazing around him, with Calvary's solemn scenes 
portrayed in blood before him, he yet feels as if he must be ac- 
cepted by God on the ground of some good prayer, some good 
feelings, or some good deeds performed by himself. Now, the 
best obedience that man can render in his fallen state is imper- 
fect. And an imperfect obedience is just a sinful obedience — 
a wicked obedience. Now, if God were to accept men on the 
ground of such obedience, it would be virtually declaring that 
his law had been too strict — had been wrong. From that mo- 
ment his holy law would be impeached, would lose its power 
among all intelligent beings, and its holy authority would be for- 
ever gone. 

Let the sinner start for heaven on the ground of his own im- 
perfect righteousness, and he can only get there by trampling, 
at every step, upon the holy law of the God of heaven. And 
allowing him at last to get there on the ground of his own im- 
perfect obedience, his presence would strike terror into every 
holy heart in heaven. The songs of that holy place would die 
away in groans. Its inhabitants would feel that all protection 
was gone, all confidence gone — if God's perfect law was gone. 
How, then, can the sinner hope for salvation in a way that would 
swallow up heaven itself in the misery of hell. 

Were God to accept the sinner on the ground of his own 
righteousness, it would be declaring the death of his own Son 



GOOD TIDINGS. 615 

unnecessary. It would be saying that it had been in vain that 
the blood of Jesus was shed. It would be to declare the atone- 
ment a piece of folly — nay, of absolute wickedness. The very 
fact that God's own Son had to die, shows that nothing but a 
perfect righteousness would do, a righteousness so perfect that 
God's pure eye cannot see a single flaw in it. It shows that we 
needed a righteousness no less than Divine, and here it is pro- 
vided in Christ crucified. Sinner ! abandon at once the vain 
attempt to make a covering for yourself, by patching together 
the fig-leaves of your own works ; for to you in God's great name 
we proclaim the Gospel's joyful sound — a righteousness unto all, 
and upon all, who believe. 

My dear reader, if you are ever saved at all, you must be 
saved by simple faith in Christ's work. We know that the nat- 
ural heart hates this doctrine, and that it contradicts all man's 
preconceived notions of religion. It lays pride in the dust and 
leaves the soul no room for boasting. Take the holiest man 
now living, and the vilest sinner that treads God's earth, and it 
is faith in the merits of Jesus that has made the difference. 

Suppose we had been in the city of Philippi that night when 
the jailor was converted. It is the dark, midnight hour, and 
the city is wrapped in silence and gloom. We stand opposite 
to a gloomy-looking building, and as we gaze upon it through 
the darkness, it begins to heave to and fro, as if rocked in the 
grasp of an earthquake. Hark ! A voice of deep human agony 
breaks upon our ear. It is the voice of the jailor himself, smitten 
by the bolt of divine truth, and his words are, "What shall I do to 
be saved .^" And what are the directions which the Apostles 
give him } Do they tell him he must pray, that he must get 
deeper feeling, more convictions of his sinful state, and do 
something to prepare himself for coming to Jesus.? No such 
directions do we find commg from the lips of these heaven-in- 
spired men ; though, alas ! there are not wanting in our day pro- 
fessed ministers of the Gospel who would give just such in- 
struction. 

An inquirer was urged some time ago to go lo the Lord's Sup- 
per, by a minister. " How can I, when 1 have no hope in Christ .?" 



6i6 THE world's hope. 

was the reply. " O come to the communion, and you will feel 
better," said the minister. How beautifully do the Apostle's 
words contrast with this. " Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ 
and thou shalt be saved." And what did the jailor do.'' Did 
he say, " That is too easy a way of being saved : it is not possible 
that so vile a man as I am could be saved in that way" } No ! 
at once he believed in the Son of God as his Saviour, and his 
heart was brimming over with joy. An old writer says there 
are but three steps to heaven — " out of self, into Christ, and in- 
to glory." If you are out of Christ, whatever may be the out- 
ward morality of your conduct, you are condemned already — 
living under the curse of the law, and the bolt of God's wrath 
may at any moment strike you. There is but one safe spot for 
you in the whole universe, and that is as a humble believer at 
the cross of Christ. 



CHAPTER II. 

IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 
" He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 

These words came from the lips of the Lord Jesus, and there 
are no words like his words. They burn into the soul for they 
are words of heavenly fire. Words of wisdom have been spoken 
by Christ's people, for the brightest intellects and the most pow- 
erful eloquence have been devoted to his service ; but " never 
man spake like this man." Something of God, it is true, we can 
learn from his works; and as we gaze upon the lofty over-hang- 
ing cliff, the sky-piercing mountain, or the vast ocean, we are 
penetrated with feelings of profoundest awe ; we exclaim, "Great 
and Infinite God !" and the cry is taken up in the heavens, and 
is re-echoed from world to world throughout infinite space. 

But nature, in all her vastness, says not one word on what, as 
sinners, we most want to hear — pardon. Not a whisper of for- 
giveness comes to us from the blue heavens above us, nor from 
any of the works of God around us. The thought of the great 
God, girt with omnipotence, makes us afraid. The great, infi- 
nite, all-pervading Spirit we cannot comprehend. The thought 
of going into his presence repels rather than attracts. — " I re- 
membered God and was troubled." 

But wheii God comes near to us in human flesh, when God 
approaches me in the person of a man like myself, when I hear 
God speaking to me through human lips, looking kindly upon 
me through human eyes, dropping over my wretchedness human 
tears, and heaving over me human groans, as he speaks to me 
of love, of pardon, and of adoption into his family of love, the 
guilty dread of God flees away, and perfect love, that casteth out 
all fear, takes its place. Now this is what we see in the God- 
man — "God manifest in the flesh." 

Suppose that you were to enter a friend's house, and see his 

617 



6l8 ^ THE WORLDS HOPE. 

little children amusing themselves with that perfect enjoyment 
of the present peculiar to childhood ; not a cloud upon their 
fair brows, not a shade of sorrow upon their faces. You are 
standing and admiring the lovely scene, when, all at once, the 
father of these children is heard at the door, and in a moment 
the whole scene is changed. The children look around in ter- 
ror; the faces so lately flushed with joy are now pale with fear* 
and they each make haste to hide themselves from the father as 
from an object of aversion and dread. Now, in witnessing such 
a sight as this, you would know that one of two things must be 
the case : either that father is a tyrant, and is in the habit of 
abusing his children, or else these children are conscious of hav- 
ing done wrong in his absence, and, therefore, are afraid to face 
him. 

Why has the sinner that dread of God which makes him shun 
the very thought of his Creator, as the essence of all that is 
gloomy and forbidding } Why does he dread the idea of going 
into God's presence, and coming so near the universal Father 
as death brings men } It cannot be because God has ever done 
him any wrong, for the hand that he dreads has been engaged 
in scattering mercies upon his pathway, and every gesture of 
that hand has been inviting him near. The voice he dreads to 
hear has been tuned to accents of love, and has sounded after 
him down the broad road to death — " Turn ye, turn ye, — why 
will ye, die .?" Why, then, this slavish dread at the thought of 
God .'* Why this enmity and aversion } Ah ! it is because the 
soul is conscious of guilt, and of having wickedly lifted the stan- 
dard of rebellion against its best friend. It is because this con- 
sciousness of guilt makes him think of God as a God of wrath, 
the red thunderbolt of whose indignation is about to leap from 
his right hand for the sinner's destruction. 

Now, man can neither love God nor enjoy happiness till this 
feeling is destroyed, and till entire confidence in Jehovah's love 
is restored. We see these remarks illustrated in our first pa- 
rents. As long as they believed in God's love, they remained 
holy and happy; the moment they believed Satan's lie, who 
taught them that God was selfish, — that he was keeping some- 



IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 619 

thing back from them that was really good for them, and the 
reason why this good was kept back was lest they should come 
to know as much as himself, — the very moment they believed 
this falsehood, they fell, and guilty dread of God took the place 
of confidence and love. 

The very beings who but a few moments before were sending 
up their songs of love and joy, and forming no unhappy har- 
mony with the loftier songs of heaven, are now in terror fleeing 
from the sound of the Lord's voice, and trying to hide them- 
selves among the trees of the garden. "Why is Adam now so 
unhappy ? As yet there is no change in his outward surround- 
ings. The fruits are as pleasant to the taste, the flowers are as 
fragrant to the smell, the air as balmy, and the music of the 
birds as sweet as ever. His body is yet in paradise, but in his 
soul have begun the very elements of hell — a plain proof that 
no outward possessions can make man happy while his soul is 
estranged from the fountain of all good. 

In " Immanuel, God with us," we see Satan's lie fully refuted. 
We see the God we supposed was full of vindictive wrath, com- 
ing near to us in human flesh, with the tear of pity in his eye 
and words of inviting love upon his lips. We see that God so 
loved us, that he stepped from his throne at the very summit of 
glory, and sought for us on the mountains of sin. We see that 
we do not need to do anything to make God love us, for that 
love has existed all along ; that we do not need to do something 
to reconcile God to us, for whoever was in the wrong must come 
and be reconciled to the right ; hence God is in Christ recon- 
ciling nof himself to the worlds but the world to himself. 

In short, we see that as man departed from God by believ- 
ing Satan's lie, and disbelieving God's truth, so he must return 
by disbelieving Satan's lie, and believing God's truth. And as 
he lost his happiness when he lost his confidence in God's dis- 
interested love, so he can never regain his happiness till he be- 
lieves in that love as displayed in Christ Jesus. Hence it is 
written, ''Acquaint thyself with God and be at peace with him." 
And again, " They that know Thee shall put their trust in 
Thee." That is, the moment they really kTiow God^ as he is re- 



620 THE world's HOPE 

vealed in the Gospel, that moment they are at peace with Him. 
But a man may know about God, and yet not know God. He 
may be a profound theologian, and be able to discourse elo- 
quently upon the attributes of God, and yet in the true spirit- 
ual sense know no more of him than a Hottentot. To know 
God is to know him as my forgiving Father, and this I can only 
know through Jesus Christ His Son. 

In the light of these remarks, how important does the doc- 
trine of Christ's divinity appear! Take away that truth out of 
the Bible, and you shatter to pieces humanity's life-boat, and 
leave man a miserable wreck upon the shores of eternity. This 
is the keystone of that bridge that crosses the gulf of human 
despair, and let it be taken away and the whole fabric falls to 
pieces. This is the most dangerous error that has ever cursed 
our world, for it strikes at the root of the atonement, the only 
hope of man. Hence, when Infidels would destroy Christianity 
under the most plausible form, they have begun by denying the 
divinity of Christ. If some being vested with great power 
wished to destroy our solar system, it would not be necessary 
to go from orb to orb, destroying one after another : it would 
only be necessary to dash out the sun, and the whole would 
rush wildly into one mass of ruin. So men wishing to be call- 
ed Christians, have taken away our Lord's divinity, and thus 
removed the life and power of the whole Christian system. 
But they cannot impose upon the pious soul, the dead body for 
the living form. When they talk of Christ, it is not the Christ 
of the Bible they speak of, but a Christ formed in their own 
vain imaginations ; and however much they may extol him as a 
good and, virtuous man, the believer says, " Ye have taken away 
my Lord, and I know not where ye have laid him." 

Sinner! In the tears and sufferings of the God-man, see how 
great must be your danger. The tears of Jesus over your per- 
ishing state, and the deep anxieties of his soul for your salva- 
tion, show how fearful is your peril. You are out in a 
steamboat upon the lake, enjoying a pleasure excursion, on a 
lovely summer day. There is not a cloud in the sky, nor a 
ripple upon the waters. The calm bosom of the lake reflects 



IMMANUEL, GOD WITH US. 62I 

all that is bright and beautiful in the firmament above. The 
thought of danger never crosses your mind, and you are sinking 
down into sweet enjoyment of the whole scene, when suddenly 
you see the captain rush across the deck with tears rolling down 
his cheeks, and much excited; you also see the crew deeply af- 
fected, and you would at once begin to think there must be 
danger, though you could not see it. 

• Now, when we see God in human form weeping and bleeding 
for sinners, there must be some fearful peril — there must be 
some deep damnation, on the brink of which your soul is top- 
pling ! O, at once go to the Captain of our Salvation, and cry, 
" Lord save, or I perish ! " — and that hand that bears the print of 
the nail, and yet is the hand that guides the stars in their 
courses, will pluck you from destruction, and give you a place 
among his loved ones on earth, and at last among his redeemed 
ones in heaven. But remember that the same hand that is 
strong to save is also strong to smite. The feet of those who have 
carried others to their burial, may be at the door to entomb you. 
The shuttle may have passed the loom and have woven the last 
garment in which your cold corpse is to be enshrouded, and 
this night your soul may stand before God. Dear reader, 
would you dare to stand there in a Christless state ? As a con- 
suming fire would that holy presence be to your guilty soul. 



CHAPTER III. 

SINAI AND CALVARY. 
"He that believeth not is condemned already." 

It is not necessary for the man out of Christ to wai\. till the 
day of his death, or the day of Judgment, to be condeiiined, for 
ftow he is under the curse of the law ; and the curse of the law 
is the curse of God. Go where he will, do what he may, that 
curse is upon him. He may banish the remembrance of it from 
his thoughts ; he may plunge into scenes of gay and fashionable 
resort ; he may engross his mind with the cares and perplexities 
of business ; he may roam amid the fields of literature and art, 
and expand his intellect amid the wonderful revelations of sci- 
ence ; but employ himself as he may, the sentence of death has 
gone forth against him ; and the execution of that sentence is 
only suspended to afford him an opportunity of going to Christ 
for pardon and eternal life. 

When he lies upon his bed at night that curse surrounds it 
like a curtain ; when he walks by the way it is his attendant ; 
and when he laughs in the theatre, or in the bar-room, or at the 
festive board, that tremendous curse frowns in wrath over his 
head. The law says, "Cursed is every one that continueth not 
in a// things that are written in the book of the law, to do 
them." Now, dear reader, if you can show that since the mo- 
ment that you became a responsibl.e being to the present time, 
you have never sinned in thought, word, or deed ; that you have 
loved God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself, 
during the whole of your life, — then you are not under the curse, 
but can claim eternal life as a right, according to the terms of 
the law: "Do and live." , Your conscience testifies, however 
that you have not thus lived a perfectly holy life, and the want 
of this perfect holiness brings upon you the curse of which we 
have spoken. 

622 



SINAI AND CALVARY. 623 

No man will ever go to Christ for a blessing till he feels him- 
self burdened with this curse. The hoarse, stern voice of jus- 
tice, must be heard from Sinai, pronouncing our condemnation, 
before we will listen to the '' still small voice " of love from Cal- 
vary, declaring our justification. It is in vain that you press 
food upon a man who is not hungry, or offer alms to one who 
thinks himself rich and increased in goods. So, till the soul 
feels its lost and undone condition, there will be no music in 
the name Jesus, and no attraction in Calvary, The sinner must 
be made to feel that God cannot permit his law to be trampled 
upon with impunity, and that sin is the most fearful thing in the 
whole universe ; for if it is pardoned, it can only be blotted out 
through the untold sufferings of God's own Son, — if unpardon- 
ed, it must be followed by an eternity of woe. 

A German Prince, upon visiting France went to see the place 
where many convicts were confined. In compliment to his 
rank, he was permitted to signalize his visit by giving one of the 
convicts his liberty. He spoke to one man, whose intelligent 
look attracted his notice, and asked him for what crime he was 
suffering. In reply the convict began to tell him the most un- 
likely story of his innocence, and of how false witnesses swore 
against him. The Prince left him and put the same question to 
another, who also denied his guilt, and averred that he was mis- 
taken for another man. The same question was put to several 
others, and with the same result ; till at last he came to a man 
whose solemn and melancholy cast of countenance attracted his 
notice. The man's reply was, " I have been a vile wretch, and 
have deserved far more than my present punishment. I have 
set at open defiance the laws both of God and men, and am not 
fit to look upon God's blue heavens or the green earth." The 
Prince, turning to his attendants, said, " Set this man free ; he is 
in a fit state of mind to make a proper use of his liberty." 

It is thus that the Prince of Peace receives and pardons the 
sinner, when he is in a state of mind that justifies God and con- 
demns himself. When the pride of the soul is subdued, then 
the sinner ceases to look at himself in the mirror of the world's 
notions and maxims about human nature, which makes the 



624 THE world's HOPE. 

most deformed look comely in their own eyes; but he new- 
looks at himself in the mirror ot God's law, and the result is, he 
sees himself in some measure as God sees him ; and " abhors 
himself, and repents in dust and ashes." 

We have an illustration of the truth of these remarks in the 
religious history of the Apostle Paul. He says, " I was alive 
without the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin 
revived, and I died." He stood high in his own estimation. 
He thought himself in high favor with God — as good as any of 
his acquaintances, and better than most. He tells us that the 
reason of this good opinion of himself was, that he was "with- 
out the law." This does not mean that he was without the 
kitowledge of the law, for, doubtless, from a child he could re- 
peat the law of God correctly. 

But it means that he was ignorant of the far-reaching spiritu- 
ality of God's law, extending as it does to the thoughts and feel- 
ings of the heart. He could point to one commandment after 
another, and proudly say, " I have never broken any of them," 
and so far as the outward act is concerned, this was doubtless 
true ; but he forgot that the revengeful thought is murder, that 
the covetous thought is theft, and that the unchaste thought is 
adultery ; he forgot that it is in vain that we go through a heart- 
less round of religious ceremonies, if love to God is not the 
grand motive power that governs our lives. Hence, when the 
spirituality of the law flashed upon his mind, in the light of a 
new conviction, and, to use his own words, " the commandment 
came, sin revived, and I died," then the sins of his whole life 
appeared before him, unpardoned, black in their aggravations, 
and loudly calling for God's wrath upon his head. His hope 
perished ; his delusion was torn away ; the fabric that he had 
built upon the sand lay around him, a pile of ruins. Sin 
seemed ''''exceeding sinful." 

Like a man who supposed himself rich and increased with 
goods, and who, with much self-complacency, put his hand into 
his pocket to pull out his well-filled purse, and instead, put his 
fingers upon the slimy folds of a loathsome serpent that lies 
there. With A^at loathing and disappointment would he draw 



CALVARY AND SINAI. 



625 



back his hand ! Like a man who supposes himself well dressed, 
and is on the way to attend a gay and fashionable party, but 
when he enters the well-lighted room, and when the scrutiny of 
a hundred eyes. is on him, he looks upon himself, and finds that 
he is covered with "filthy rags." — With what shame and confusion 
would he shrink away ! Thus it was with Paul when he saw 
the purity of God's law, and felt himself the subject of its ter- 
rible curse. When he was thus emptied of self, he was in a 
state to be filled with Christ ; and when his false hope went out 
in darkness, the hope in Jesus, " that maketh not ashamed,'' 
arose in imperishable splendor upon his soul. In his own 
words, " the law was a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ." 

We see, then, that the reason why there are so many who are 
boasting of their morality and wrapping themselves up in a 
self-righteous security is because they measure themselves by a 
false standard of their own making. And until they can be in- 
duced to abandon that false measure, and try themselves by the 
perfect purity of God's law, the cross of Christ will appear to 
them foolishness, and those truths that fill all heaven with rap- 
ture will fall upon their ears as the whistling of the empty wind. 

Here is a man, for example, who thinks that all God requires 
of him is to live a strictly moral life. To be honest in his deal- 
ings with his fellowmen, to be kind and benevolent to the suffering 
and the destitute, to be a good citizen, and discharge with fidelity 
the relative duties of life — this is his standard of duty, and he 
comes up to it. He is an honest man. He is a kind neighbor, a 
good husband, an affectionate father. He has a great respect for 
religion and for its ministers. He goes regularly to the house of 
God, and contributes liberally to the support of the Gospel. 
In short, he comes up, in every respect, to his own standard of 
what a Christian should be, and the result is, he is at j^eace. No 
disturbing doubt alarms him. He is "alive without the law." 

Such a man can never be converted, can never repent and 
believe in Christ, till he is induced to measure himself by a dif- 
ferent standard. Such a man may like to hear the most faithful 
preaching, because he is persuaded that it does nofmean him. 
And men like to hear the condemnation of things that they never 
will take home to themselves. They like to hear God's threat- 



626 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

enings spoken in a way that never touches their consciences. 
They Hke practical preaching that does not rebuke them. Some 
years ago I met a man whose case may illustrate the above re- 
marks. In the course of some conversation on religious sub- 
jects, I asked him if he was a Christian. He seemed astonished 
at the question, but promptly replied that he was. I then asked 
him how long it was since the great change had taken place. 
He replied that his parents had been good Christian people: 
that in his infancy he had been baptized into the true church*, 
that he regularly received the sacrament from the hands of the 
minister; and that he did not know what I meant by the great 
chajige. I told him that though it was a great privilege to be 
born of pious parents, yet the religion of heaven was not hered- 
itary — not a thing that ran in the blood ; that as to his belong- 
ing to the true church, that could not save him, for Judas out- 
wardly belonged to the true church, and yet went to hell ; that 
his baptism could not save him, for Simon was baptized by the 
hands of an inspired Apostle, and yet " had neither part nor lot 
in this matter." I read the conversation of our Lord with Nico- 
demus, and urged upon him the necessity of a change of heart. 
He now became very solemn, said he knew that he had not at- 
tended to these things as he ought, but that of late he had become 
a changed character ; that for the las: few weeks he had read 
three chapters out of the Bible, and prayed three times every 
day; and, if that was not religion, he did not know what it was. 
I tried to show him the purity and far-reaching nature of God's 
law ; that as a sinner the curse of the law was upon him ; and 
that, though he could begin from that moment and live a per- 
perfectly holy life till the moment of his death, even then he 
could not be saved, for his past sins, in all their condemning 
power, would still be against him. I tried to lead him to Cal- 
vary for salvation. Pointing him to a finished work that his 
own good works^ and prayers^ and tears could add nothing to, I 
told him that at that moment there was nothing between him and 
pardon but his own unbelief. He was urged to believe that 
Jesus died for him as if he had been the only sinner in the 
world. He received the testimony of God, and was soon able 
to say with Paul, " He loved me and gave himself for w^." 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE SPIRIT STRIVING. 



A thoughtless sinner ! It is hard to conceive of a more mel- 
ancholy sight. With the certainty of soon standing in the 
presence of a holy God ; with innumerable sins staining his 
soul, not one of which he can wash away ; with a soul more 
valuable than he has even imagination to conceive of, and that 
must be suffering or enjoying, when suns and systems shall have 
gone to the general pile of ruin ; with responsibilities under 
which an angel might tremble, — there he is, utterly careless. 

The Great God has taken such a deep interest in his welfare, 
that for a time he emptied heaven of the most lovely object in 
it, and sent his Son on a mission of love to the perishing mil- 
lions of our race. The Son so loved him, that he endured the 
agonies of the cross, and refused to come down till he had fin- 
ished the work of human redemption. The Holy Spirit feels 
such an interest in him, that, though hating his sins with a per- 
fect hatred. He still follows him with the importunities of love. 
The holy angels take such an interest in him that they watch 
for his repentance; and yet, there he is, careless about himself! 

But when the sinner begins to thinks — to look eternity and 
all its awful realities in the face, — his case is truly hopeful. 
See that young man taken out of a river, supposed to be 
drowned. The physician is using every means to restore ani- 
mation. The mother of that youth hangs over him in an agony 
of suspense ; and when at last there is seen the first movements 
of returning life, the fluttering of the heart, the quivering of 
the eyelids, and the heaving of the deep groan, I see that mother 
clasp her hands, and, turning her tearful eyes to heaven, she 
cries, " Thank God, he lives." 

Sinner, the Book of God describes you as dead in " trespasses 
and sins," and this is true, not only of the most abandoned sin- 

627 



628 THE world's hope. 

ners, but of the most amiable and moral. Death appears in 
different forms, sometimes horrid and revolting, and sometimes 
lovely and attractive. Go over the battle field, after the con- 
flict is over, and you will see death in some of its most revolt- 
ing forms ; but look upon that babe on its mother's knee, upon 
whose lovely countenance death has just stamped his seal, and 
death is seen there in a most attractive aspect ; but the man 
slain in battle and the babe are both alike dead. 

And it is the Holy Spirit alone that can speak life into the 
dead soul. We might gather around one sinner all the faithful 
ministers of the Gospel now living, and all the praying people 
who hold up their arms by their fervent supplications; and they 
might try by their prayers and exhortations to save the soul of 
that one sinner and continue their efforts for years, and they 
could not produce one good thought, nor one saving impres- 
sion, without the influence of the Holy Spirit. 

Dear reader, if this Divine Agent has indeed begun to ope- 
rate upon your soul, and to produce some signs of spiritual life, 
it is with you a very solemn and critical period. You cannot 
remain long in this state, for either you will allow the Spirit to 
lead you to the Lord Jesus for pardon and peace, or you will 
resist him, and sink back into a state of more hardened obdu- 
racy. A crisis — a turning point in the history of your soul — has 
come when it will be easier for you to become a Christian, than 
it ever was before, or, perhaps, than it ever will be again. 

The Spirit has startled your soul from its long and death-like 
torpor. The people of God are praying for you, and trying to 
point you to the Lamb of God. The word preached from the 
pulpit sounds to you now as it never did before ; pointed, per- 
sonal, and solemn as the blast of the last trumpet, it reaches 
your trembling heart with an awakening, "Thou art the man !" 
Memory is turning over the pages of your past life, and the sins 
you have committed, the prayers and counsels of a pious mother 
that you have despised, the Sabbaths you have squandered, — 
all are speaking to you in words of rebuke that are heard 
through every chamber of the soul. Oh ! now is the most fa- 
vorable time you will ever have to accept the offers of the 
^Gospel ! 



■'il'llJ'''!',i':!ii1iii:ii:i|i;i|i'Hil!i',!silllli!ill!l 



I 



tuM. 




'm^w 



i^Sf^^D 



THE SPIRIT STRIVING. 629 

But resist the Spirit, and your mind will become dark as per^ 
dition on the things of God, and the things that belong to youi 
personal salvation will be regarded with a sullen indifference. 
God will say, " He is joined to his idols, let him alone ;" and of 
all the calamities that can happen to the soul on this side of 
perdition, to be let alone is the most terrible. 

When the benevolent monks who reside on the Alps go out 
amid the snow storm to search for travelers who, overcome by 
fatigue and cold, have sunk down to perish, they always know 
when they come to a person whose case is hopeless, from the 
fact that he is very hard to awake, and when they do get him 
partially aroused, he is very angry at being disturbed, and in- 
sists on being allowed to remain where he is. So is it with 
those Gospel-hardened sinners who have long resisted the Spirit, 
and whose souls are bound up in the chains of a mighty lethar- 
gy. When a revival sweeps through a whole community, and 
enters the very house where such a man lives, he slumbers on 
in indifference, or else becomes a deadly opposer. He even 
glories in his shame, and boasts of hoiv calm he can keep amid 
the general excitement. 

But the calm he boasts of is like that fearful calm we some- 
times see in nature, when a storm is brewing in the heavens, and 
is about to break forth in desolating power. It is the calm 
which the sick man feels, when the inflammation that tortures 
his body has turned into mortification. He thinks himself bet- 
ter, his friends congratulate him on his improvement ; but the 
physician looks gloomy, for he knows that soon his heart will 
be struggling wildly under the attack of death. So the sinner 
has resisted the Spirit, till his convictions have all left him, and 
he cries, "peace and safety," when destruction is thundering at 
his door. 

The great sin that the Spirit comes to convince of, is the sin 
of UNBELIEF. The Lord's own words are, '"When he is come, 
he shall reprove the world of sin ; of sin, because they believe 
not in me." It was not enough that Jesus died for the guilty 
and made salvation free as the air we breathe, or as the moun- 
tain torrent, leaping from rock to rock, for such is the deep de« 



630 THE world's hope. 

pravity of the human heart, that not one of the whole race 
would have believed in this boundless love, did not the Holy 
Spirit come to convince of unbelief. I know of nothing that 
shows more clearly the extent of our undone and lost state by 
nature than this, — that it needed not only God in our nature to 
die for us, but it needs God the Spirit, to convince us that we 
need such a Saviour at all. 

The proper definition of unbelief, as given by the Bible, is 
truly fearful. It is there described as making God a liar. 
Reader, suppose that you were to have your veracity doubted 
by all around you, day after day ; that your family, your neigh- 
bors, the persons with whom you do business every day, all were 
to turn away from your words as unworthy of belief, — how bitter- 
ly would you feel ! What indignation would fill your heart ! 
And how must the Great God feel, when the very creatures for 
whom he has done so much — for whom he has made infinite sac- 
rifices — refuse to credit his words, and cast them back in his face 
with contempt ! Is it any wonder that the unalterable decree 
has gone forth from the Eternal Throne, " He that believeth not 
shall be damned " .'' 

But it is not often that unbelief will, in words, contradict God. 
Occasionally some bold blasphemer may dare to do this, but, 
generally, the unbelief of the heart will assume a more pious, 
and, therefore, a 77i07'e dangerous form. As Satan transforms 
himself into an angel of light, so the sin of unbelief will often 
come in the garb of the most profound humility. It will say, 
"I am too great a sinner for Christ to pardon me." This is a 
sham humility, and has its origin in an " evil heart of unbelief, 
departing from the living God." 

Suppose that the Mayor of this city were to issue a proclama- 
tion, calling upon all the destitute poor of the place, to come to 
his office, and they would get bread freely, " without money 
and without price." But, suppose, on that very day, in passing 
along the street, that I see a man weeping bitterly, who, upon 
my asking him the cause of his distress, informs me he is in a 
starving state. I point him to the proclamation, and show him 
the office where he can get immediate relief. But he says, *' I 



THE SPIRIT STRIVING. 63I 

am too hungry to get anything ; the proclamation cannot mean 
those who are so hungry as I am !" Why, we would think the 
man was mad if we heard him speak in this style. We would 
tell him that his hunger and destitution formed his only quali- 
fication for coming. 

And this is what the Spirit seeks to impress upon the mind of 
the awakened sinner. He tells him that his sins, which he is 
making a reason for staying away from Christ, are his only qual- 
ifications for coming to him. An awakened sinner was once 
bewailing his sins in the presence of Lady Huntington, and at 
last, in the bitterness of his soul, cried out, " I am lost." " I am 
glad to hear it," said the pious lady. " What," said he, " glad 
to hear that I am lost ?" " Yes," was the reply, " for Jesus came 
to seek and to save that which was lost." The Holy Spirit 
took that word and applied it to his heart ; he saw that the 
cause of his despondency was unbelief; and he there and then 
received Christ by faith, "and went on his way rejoicing." 

Another reason why the Spirit seeks to convince of unbelief 
is that this is the damning sin, and the cause of every other sin. 
Why is this man a swearer, a drunkard, a Sabbath-breaker, or 
an open transgressor of the law of God ? It is because he has 
not believed with the heart on the Son of God. The moment 
the soul so believes, " faith works by love, and purifies the heart.'* 
The Spirit of God does not seek to induce the sinner to cut off 
this outward sin, and another outward sin, leaving the great 
root of all sin in the heart untouched. 

This would be like a man who wanted to cut down a tree, 
and would begin with his knife at the top branches, and so 
work his way down, instead of laying the axe to the root of the 
tree at once. The Spirit lays the axe of Christ's truth to the 
root of the tree of unbelief, and at once the man becomes "a 
new creature in Christ Jesus." The principle of love to him 
who died for him, becomes the controlling and impelling motive. 
He works, not /or life, but because he /las life. Heaven is not 
merely de/ore him, it is within him. 

Remember, then, my reader, that, whatever may be your con- 
victions and your terrors, — whatever may be the number of your 



632 THE world's hope. 

prayers, tears, and good resolutions, — until you come to Jesus, 
and cast yourself wholly on him, you are resisting the Spirit, 
you are in a state of unbelief, and exposed, at any moment, to 
be called into the presence of that God, who has pronounced 
such a fearful sentence against this sin. 

" Dwell, Spirit, in our hearts, 

Our minds from bondage free ; 
Then shall we know, and praise, and love 

The Father, Son, and Thee." 



CHAPTER V. 



SAVING FAITH. 



Faith in. Jesus is essential to eternal life. There are many- 
important truths in the Bible that a man can be saved without 
knowing. He may get to heaven without being a Presbyteirian, 
a Methodist, or a Baptist, but heaven's gates will be forever 
barred against him, if he dies without faith in Jesus. This is 
not a way of being saved, it is the way. All that makes heaven 
happy, all that makes hell miserable, depends on our reception 
or rejection of this truth. 

A man may say he will have nothing to do with this truth, 
but it will have something to do with him. He may assume the 
position of a proud neutrality, but Jesus declares such neutrality- 
impossible. "He that is not with me is against me." The 
death of Jesus throws the soul of man, in spite of himself, up- 
on a new probation. It is his only hope, hisonly way of escape 
from the ruin in which he is involved. The Gospel meets him 
as he lands upon the shores of time, and it must prove to him 
" the Saviour of life or of death." It will leave him amid the 
unsullied brightness of heaven, or amid the hopeless misery of 
the lost. 

In the Bible things are made plain just in proportion as they 
are of vital importance. Things deeply mysterious and hard 
be understood, are to be found in that holy Book; but the plan of 
salvation is not one of them. Indeed, it is so simple and plain, 
that thousands are stumbling to hell over its very simplicity. 
Instead of believing in the death of the Son of God, as a 
ground of justification and eternal life, they are looking for 
some mysterious influence to come down from heaven, opera- 
ting upon them like an electrical shock, and filling them with 
unspeakable rapture. They are waiting for some wonderful light 
to break in upon their dark minds, and some mysterious voice 
to tell them that they are forgiven. 



634 THE world's hope. 

Now faith in Jesus is, not merely to believe that he is the Son 
of God; that he has died to save sinners; that he has made a 
perfect atonement for the guilty; that he is able and willing to 
save all who come unto him ; and that there is efficiency in his 
blood to cleanse from all sin. A man may believe all this, just 
as the devil believes it all, and yet remain unsaved. It may 
only be the assent of the intellect to perceived truth. The 
mind maybe convinced of the creditability of God's testimony, 
and yet .that testimony exert no saving influence on the heart. 

But when a man really comes to Jesus, he casts himself upon 
his merits as a poor, lost, undone sinner ; conscious that he can 
do nothing to save himself, or to improve his condition before 
him; and trusting wholly to his work on the cross for his ac- 
ceptance with the Father. True faith makes a close, personal 
matter of the death of Jesus. It says, " He died not only for 
sinners but for me^ the chief of sinners." It says, "In myself 
I am nothing, but Jesus died for my sins ; and through his 
righteousness I know I am accepted." It takes God at his word. 
It sets before its eyes the awful scene on Calvary, the sinking 
head, the gushing blood, the open wounds, the dying words of 
the Son of God ; and it remembers that with that Son and his 
work the Father is well pleased, and through his finished work 
can be "just and yet the justifier of the ungodly." 

The man who thus believes in Jesus, knows he is forgiven ; 
not because he has been told it in a dream, nor because it has 
been whispered to his soul by some mysterious voice, nor flashed 
upon his mind by some sudden impression ; but simply because 
God says it. To trust to my own impressions and feelings and 
emotions is sheer fanaticism ; but to trust to the testimony of 
God concerning his Son, is highly rational. It is to be .able to 
give a reason of the hope that is in us. And surely there can 
be no firmer foundation upon which an immortal soul can rest 
its hopes than the word of that God who cannot lie. 

Suppose you had offended some dear friend by your bad 
conduct, and that the sense of that friend's displeasure had l)e- 
come very grievous to you — a burden you could no longer 
bear. At last you go to that friend, confess your fault and ask 



SAVING FAITH. 635 

his forgiveness ; and he says, ' I freely forgive you." In this 
case, how could you know you were really forgiven ? How 
could you have an assurance that he was no longer displeased 
with you ? Would it be by waiting for some inward impression, 
or some outward voice or some startling light? No: it would 
be by simply believing your friend's word. 

So it is with faith in Jesus : it rests entirely upon the merits 
of Christ's precious blood, and knows that pardon has been be-^ 
stowed, because God has said, " He that believeth shall be 
saved." No angel has come from heaven to tell him that his 
sins have been blotted out, and that his name is now entered 
in the Lamb's book of life ; but he rests upon a testimony better 
than that of all the angels in heaven, even the testimony of the 
"Faithful true Witness." "He that hath received his testi- 
mony hath set to his seal that God is true." We know what it 
is to put our name and seal to a written document. It is to 
ratify it, and declare our determination to abide by its contents. 
So faith rests sweetly upon the work of Christ and upon the 
word of God, and knows that there is to be found peace and as- 
surance forever. 

The great mistake that many make when inquiring after sal- 
vation, is, to refuse to come as they are to Jesus. They think 
that they must wait for deeper conviction, for more feeling, for 
more love to Christ before they can come to him. Hence they 
keep looking at their own hearts to see if any good feeling is 
springing up there, which might form a ground of encourage- 
ment that they were becoming more fit for going to Christ. 
The Bible says, " Blessed are the people who know the joyful 
sound." That joyful sound comes only from Calvary. It 
comes from the pale lips of Jesus, quivering in death, as he says, 
"It is finished." But the awakened sinner listens at the door 
of his heart, to hear the joyful sound come from there. But 
from there it never will come. There is in that heart no good 
thing, and no voice but that of condemnation will ever come 
from it. 

Take a Scriptural illustration. The children of Israel had 
fiery flying serpents sent among them, tlie sting of which was 



6s6 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



deadly. The people were dying, on the right hand and on the 
left. God commanded a brazen serpent to be lifted up in sight 
of the perishing, assuring them that whosover looked in faith 
would be instantly cured. Here is a man who has been 
wounded, and is in a dying state. His friends have taken him 
out in sight of the saving object, and urge and entreat him to 
look and be saved. Instead, however, of looking at the brazen 
serpent, he keeps looking at his wound. He keeps telling of 
its painfulness, of the increase of bad symptoms, and bitterly 
bewailing his miserable state. Would his looking at, and talk- 
ing about his malady save him.'' No: he would die under the 
very shadow of the object of salvation; not because there was 
no saving power in it, but because he would not do what God 
commanded, — look at the brazen serpent, instead of at himself 
Dear reader, Jesus says, " Look unto me, and be ye saved." 
But you say, " I cannot go to Jesus with such a hard heart. I 
have too little feeling, and must wait till I can get more con- 
viction of sin." All this arises from the pride of self-righteous- 
ness of your heart. Suppose that you could feel that your heart 
was growing better, that you /lad more feeling, and that upon 
making this discovery, that you were to begin to rejoice ; what 
would this be but rejoicing in yourself instead of in Christ.-* It 
would only be making a Saviour of your feelings, your emo- 
tions, your penitence, instead of the heaven-appointed Saviour. 
And this is one great reason why the religion of many pro- 
fessors of the present day is so fitful and unreliable. They live 
by feeling, and our feelings are as changeable as the veering 
winds. Hence no dependence can be placed in such profes- 
sors. They are either in the raptures of excitement or sunk 
down into the stupor of indifference. When they feel well they 
will do well. 

Their religion is not like the peaceful river, rolling calmly on, 
day after day the same, but it is like the mountain torrent, 
caused by heavy rain that comes foaming madly down, but in 
the dry season, when it is most wanted, is nowhere to be found. 
It is not like the steady light of the sun, brighter and brighter 
to the perfect day ; but it is like the glare of the lightning, 



SAVING FAITH. 



637 



which, on a dark night, dazzles your eyes with the sudden iUu- 
mination of earth and skies, and then leaves you to plod on in 
greater darkness than before. 

True faith trusts in Jesus alone, and as he is " the same yes- 
terday, to-day, and forever," its confidence is not destroyed by 
change of feeling. On that terrible night, when " the angel of 
death spread his wings on the blast," and breathed destruction 
upon the first born in the Egyptian families, the Israelites were 
saved by simply obeying the word of the Lord, and sprinkling 
the door-posts with blood. They did not need to bar or barri- 
cade their doors to keep the destroyer out. It was not neces- 
sary to sit up all night, clasping the first born in their arms, or 
sending up fervent prayers that he might be spaxed to them. 
No: if they believed the word of the Lord, and did what that 
word required, they could go to bed and sleep calmly and 
sweetly under the protection of blood. 

So with the believer in Jesus ; he is under the protection of 
the precious blood of Christ, and he knows that his soul is safe 
in the keeping of infinite love. If the Israelite's faith in God's 
word, and in Jhe protecting power of the blood, began to fail, 
he would at once be thrown into an agony of fear and doubt ; 
and as the critical hour approached, and as he heard the first 
wild, despairing cry from the home of his neighbor that the de- 
stroyer had visited, he would be apt to resort to all kinds of ex- 
pedients of his (nan devising, for the protection of the loved one. 
If he had steady faith, however, in God's remedy, no doubt 
would disturb the calm repose of his soul. 

An old writer says, " Faith will be staggered even by loose 
stones in the way if we look manward ; if we look Godward, 
faith will not be staggered with inaccessible mountains stretch- 
ing across and obstructing apparently our onward progress. 
* Go fojward,' is the voice from heaven; and faith obeying, 
finds the mountains before it flat as plains. How strong ir? 
faith when it comes fresh from the fountain of redeeming 
love !" Another old writer says, " For every one look you give 
at your own evil heart, give fifty at Christ." 

This waiting for joy and peace, and love to spring up in 



638 THE world's hope. 

our hearts before we believe in Jesus, is as unphilosphical as 
it is unscriptural. We cannot produce emotions by trying to 
feel. Suppose I were to say, " I will now begin and feel sorry;'* 
I could not feel sorry by mere trying. But let me fix my mind 
upon some sorrowful subject, — on my mother on her death-bed, 
and her pale and quivering lips, giving me her dying charge; 
and the emotion of sorrow will spring up without my trying to 
produce it. If I say, "I will now begin and feel joyful," I can- 
not produce that emotion by any direct effort. But let me fix 
my mind upon some joyful fact, and at once my heart will be 
filled with real gladness. 

So let the sinner look to Jesus, as he utters the deep death 
groan that rends his bleeding heart; and let him believe that 
all this suffering, all this boundless love was for him, and as one 
says, '• he must be more or less than a man," if he does not melt 
him down into penitence and love. Hence the Bible tells us 
that "faith worketh by love and purifies the heart." To ex- 
pect good emotions before faith in Jesus, is to expect the effect 
before the cause. 

" Let no sense of guilt prevent you; 
Nor of fitness fondly cream; 
All the fitness he requireth 
Is -to feel your need .of him. ' ' 



CHAPTER VI. 



OBSCURING CLOUDS. 



It has been the experience of all who have had the happiness 
to be taught in the school of Christ, that they have had more 
difficulty in unlearning than in learning. The prejudices en- 
gendered by an erroneous religious training ; the opinions of 
men of high standing, and of eminent piety; the writings of 
great men, with whose fame the world has resounded ; a blind 
attachment to the church of our fathers, however far that 
church may be from the truth ; and a whole bundle of precon- 
ceived notions in regard to religion, which have no foundation 
in the Bible ; — these all stand in our way, as mountain barriers 
to the reception of "the truth as it is in Jesus." 

It is truly melancholy to think of the influence that prejudice 
will exert on the human mind on the subject of all others the 
most important — salvation. It spreads the darkness of mid- 
night over the understanding, twists and distorts all our modes 
of reasoning and thinking, and leaves its own horrid impress 
upon all our conclusions. It leads men to read the Word of" 
God, not to discover truth for themselves, but to find some- 
thing to sustain their own favorite theories. These theories are 
often so absurd, that the letting in of a little common sense up- 
on them, would be enough to dispel them, as the mist is dis- 
pelled by the rising glories of the sun. 

It has been truly said, that you cannot reason a man out of a: 
thing that he has never been reasoned into ; and the only cure 
for this unhappy state of mind is to come to the Bible as to the 
foundation of truth, saying, " Lord, what I know not teach thou 
me." When the voice of prejudice exclaimed, "Can any good 
thing come out of Nazareth," the happy convert who had just 
found the Saviour himself, and whose soul was glowing with de- 
sire for the salvation of his friend, had too much wisdom to sit 

6.39 



640 THE world's IfOPE. 

down and enter into an argument about the matter. Had he 
done so he would in all probability have lost his temper, and 
have done more harm than good ; but there was holy power in 
the kind reply, " Come and see." 

There is the greatest difference among men as to the recep- 
tion of gospel truth. Some receive the truth the first time they 
hear it. With the rapidity of lightning, conviction of their lost 
state flashes upon their minds, and at once they go to Jesus for 
pardon. They can tell the day and the very hour when they 
were converted. A large portion of the conversions recorded 
in the New Testament are of this character. 

But with many who are truly the Lord's children, it is quite 
different. The light of the gospel broke upon their minds grad- 
ually as the dawning of the day. They can tell of no sudden 
terrors, no appalling alarms, no powerful convictions, hurrying 
them on to the verge of despair, and shaking their souls over 
the fiery gulf. Said one, " The Lord awoke me as the mother 
awakes her babe — with a kiss.'' Neither can such persons tell 
much of greit raptures and ecstatic joys in their conversion, 
That the truth as it is in Jesus, in its full-orbed grandeur has 
arisen upon their souls, there can be no doubt. That Christ is 
unspeakably precious to their souls they k7iou\ and there is no 
hesitation in the tone with which they say, " One thing I know, 
that, whereas I was bHnd, I now see;" yet they cannot fix the 
very day when this great change took place. They often write 
bitter things against themselves on this account, and fear that 
they have never been converted at all. But let such remember 
that to be in Christ is the essential thing : the way in which we 
have reached that place of safety is of little moment. 

When the floodgates of heaven were opened, and a wild del- 
uge was about to sweep the globe of its guilty inhabitants, to be 
in the Ark was to be safe, whether the Ark had been reached 
by a few rapid bounds, or by slow and haltmg steps. So to be 
able to say, " 1 have found him whom my soul loveth," is of 
vastly more importance than to be able to relate an experience 
full of thrilling alternations of feeling, and with dates as correct 
as the revolutions of the earth. 



OBSCURINO CLOUDS. 641 

One great reason why many are kept from accepting salva- 
tion by faith in Jesus is preconceived and erroneous opinions 
as to what religion truly is. They have arranged in their minds 
what they must do, and how they must feel, if they ever become 
Christians. They have marked out a process in their own minds 
through which they suppose they must go, — a process composed 
of weeks or months of gloom and terror of soul, of bitter tears 
and agonizing prayers, followed by a sudden gush of joy ; the 
whole process being as distinctly marked as the various stages 
of an intermittent fever. They think that when all these emo- 
tions have been experienced, God will be changed in his feel- 
ings toward them; that then his anger will be turned away from 
them ; and that, in consideration of the great change that has 
taken place upon them, he will forgive their past offences and 
love them freely. Tell them that all this attempt to change 
God, and to make themselves more acceptable to him by efforts 
of their own, is not only foolishness, but wickedness ; that it is 
repudiating God's plan of saving them, and daring to substitute 
one of their own ; that no change needs to be effected in God, 
he having already so loved them as to give His Son to die for 
them ; that there is now absolutely nothing between them and 
pardon and justification, but to believe in the perfect satisfac- 
tion which Jesus has made to a broken and an insulted law ; — tell 
them all this, I say, and you do great violence to the notions 
and feelings that have been made strong by the culture and in- 
dulgence of years. 

The state of mind described is well illustrated by the case of 
Naaman, the Syrian, (see 2 Kings, 5.) This man had a danger- 
ous and loathsome disease, which cast a dark shadow over his 
life. The good news reached his ears that there was a man of 
God in the land of Israel who could cure him; and he at once 
started upon his journey, surrounded with all that pomp and 
grandeur which his wealth enabled him to command. As he 
draws near to the residence of the man of God, he arranges in 
his own mind the whole method of his cure. He already in 
imagination sees the prophet hastening to meet him, and, mov- 
ing his hand over the diseased place, lift up his' eyes to heaven 



642 THE WORLD S HOPE 

and invoke the Almighty aid, when suddenly his whole frame 
thrills under the consciousness of a perfect cure. 

This was Naaman's plan, but it was not God's. The simple 
message is sent to him, " Go and wash in Jordan seven times, 
and thou shalt be clean." What a severe blow to the man's 
preconceived notions ! The scowl of displeasure is on his brow, 
and indignation is in his heart, because God will not carry out 
his prepared programme. God's way of cure was too simple a 
way, and too humbling to his pride. But at last, through the 
persuasions of love, he went and did what the Lord commanded ; 
and at once he was made w hole. 

So, my dear reader, cast away your own notions and preju- 
dices ; cast from you with a noble scorn the self-righteous pride 
that would lead you to question the wisdom of God's way of 
saving you ; and this hour salvation shall come to thy heart. 

See that poor diseased woman, in the days of our Lord, press- 
ing her way through the crowd, that she may touch the hem of 
his garment. See how pale, and weak, and helpless she is, in 
herself The crowd, surging and swaying to and fro, sometimes 
carry her far from the object of her hope. But she does not 
give up. She does not say, " What can such a poor, weak invalid 
as I am, do?" She does not sit down and philosophize about 
the likelihood of a mere touch of the hem of the Lord's gar- 
ment doing her any good. She presses her way forward, and 
at last her trembling hand just touches his garment ; and at 
once her bent and shriveled form expands into health and vigor. 
Our Lord instantly looked round, and inquired who had 
touched him. There were many crowding and pressing upon 
him, but he knew that one believing soul, in particular, had 
touched him with the hand of faith. He felt that healing power 
had gone forth from him to some believing heart. 

Reader, that blessed Saviour is near you v/hile you are read- 
ing these lines. You need not ascend to the heights to bring 
him down, nor descend into the depths to bring him up ; you 
need not go to the uttermost ends of the earth in pursuit of him ; 
you need not wait to find him at protracted meetings, or peni- 
tent seats, though many have found him there. He is nigh you 



OBSCURING CLOUDS 643 

this moment, yea, in your heart, if you but believe his word. 
There is but the vail of unbeHef between you and him this mo- 
ment, and let that be torn away, and the peace of heaven will 
pervade your heart as you cry, " My Lord, and my God !' 

It not unfrequently happens, that, after the plan of salvation 
has been presented in the plainest way, we are met by the as- 
sertion, ** I cannot believe." Now, this is an assertion which 
plainly contradicts your Maker to his face. The Lord who 
made you must know what you can and what you cannot do ; 
and the very fact that he commands you to believe, and threat- 
ens you with eternal punishment for not believing, is the highest 
evidence that you can do it. 

Jesus says, " Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have 
life ;" and you have the boldness to say to that Saviour, ^^ I can- 
not come unto thee." Suppose, for example, that a man has 
insulted his best friend, and, when urged to go and confess his 
fault, and ask his friend's forgiveness, he says, " I cannot do it." 
What does he mean by that " cannot.?" Does he mean that his 
limbs have become paralyzed, so that he cannot go to his friend's 
house } No. Does he mean that he has lost the power of 
speech, so that he cannot ask the injured man's forgiveness.'* 
No. The meaning of his " cannot," is, that he has such an ob- 
stinate, bad temper that he will not do it. The perverse pride 
of his heart is such, that he will not do what the voice of God 
above him and the voice of conscience within him, alike de- 
clare to be his imperative duty. 

It is so with the sinner. He is going about with a great deal 
of zeal to establish for himself a righteousness, but he will not 
submit himself to the righteousness of Christ. He thinks him- 
self very humble, very broken-hearted and contrite ; he declares 
his willingness to do any thing required of him. Ask him to 
stand up in public meeting and express his desire for the pray- 
ers of God's people, and he will promptly do it. Ask him to 
attend inquiry meeting, and he will do that. Ask him to go 
home and pray and read his Bible, and his compliance is 
prompt. But there is one thing he will not do : He will not do 
the y^x^ first thing that his God requires of him ; that is, to be- 



644 'T^E world's hope. 

lieve in Jesus. He says he has repented of sin, and declares 
readiness to give up every sin ; but the very first sin the Spirit 
points out he refuses to abandon ; that is, the sin of unbelief. 

He is like a man who has a broken limb. The physician is 
called in, and the man professes to be willing that his medical 
attendant should handle the limb in whatever way may be nec- 
essary. The hand of skill passes along the limb, pressing here 
and there, till at last it rests upon the injured part, when the pa- 
tient starts, and exclaims, " Ah, Doctor, you must not touch 
there !" " Yes, but," says the doctor, " that is the very place to 
be touched, and if you will not let me touch t^af, there is no use 
of my staying here." 

So, sinner, the Spirit of God pours a whole flood of light on 
the sin of unbelief, and points that out as the murderer of your 
soul ; and you not only refuse to give it up, but speak as if you 
cou/d not give it up, and as if your God had laid you under the 
absolute necessity of calling him a liar ! Oh ! do you not see 
that there is an unfathomed depth of pride in your heart, that is 
keeping you from Jesus ? If you are willing to be saved, the 
Saviour is willing, and what, then, is to hinder the lost from 
being found .'' No more precious blood was shed for John, or 
for Peter, or for Paul, than has been shed for you ; and if ever 
you are saved at all, you must be saved as they were — by the 
application of that blood to your own soul by faith. There is 
no reason on God's part why you should not this moment be 
saved. Any barriers that remain are of your own putting up, 
and keeping up. Throw open the door of your heart, and in- 
vite the blessed Lord to come in. 

'• Ye ransomed of Je^us, 
Come sing of his love. 
He stooped down to raise us 
To mansions above : 
[ehovah on him our transgressions did lay, 
And he bore the huge burden, and bore it awny." 



CHAPTER VII 



MIGHTY TO SAVE. 



Souls ti«eing from the wrath to come often need strong con- 
solation. It has been observed that Satan will do what he can 
to keep a man from becoming a Christian at all ; but, if he can- 
not succeed in this, he will try, by doubts and fears, to make 
him as miserable a Christian as possible. And so this enemy of 
souls tries first to lull souls asleep, in a presumptuous security. 
By false representations of the general mercy of God, by per- 
verted views of the nature of sin, and by preaching from the old, 
popular, and pleasing text, ''Thou shalt not surely die," he will 
try to keep all thoughts of coming wrath from disturbing your 
soul. 

But, if in this he cannot succeed, if no species of hellish logic 
can keep the soul from concern about its state before God, then 
the " father of lies " will try to persuade the sinner that there is 
no salvation for him. Hence you will see the same man, in the 
course of a few hours, rush from the extreme of presumption to 
that of despair. Formerly he could not be made to fear, now 
he cannot be made to hope. To such I would especially ad- 
dress myself in the following remarks. 

Such persons are just as much in the service of the devil in 
their present state of mind as they ever were. They may go to 
the house of God, may attend inquiry meeting, may converse 
with religious people freely, and appear to be more religious 
than they ever were before; but they are still believing Satan's 
lie, in opposition to God's truth : they are intrenched in unbe- 
lief, under the influence of which, they refuse to trust the im- 
perishable word of the God of truth, and cast back the precious 
promises in the face of the Eternal. 

There are two great truths which stand out on the pages of 
the Bible so plain that he that runneth may read them. The 

64s 



646 THE WORLD S HOPE. 

one is, that if any sinner is ever saved, God's will be all the glory, 
the other is, that if any sinner is ever lost, the sinner's will be 
all the blame. These two truths God has joined together, and 
let no man dare to put them asunder. We may talk about 
God's sovereignty, and man's free agency, about liberty and ne- 
cessity, until both ourselves and our hearers become lost in the 
thick metaphysical fog of our own raising; but, thank God, 
when we emerge from out of the thick darkness of our own 
creating, we see these two truths in the Word of Life, shining out 
gloriously, — lights in a dark place, to which we do well that we 
take heed. 

God has been at infinite pains to convince the sinner that he 
has no pleasure in his death, and casts the whole responsibility 
of his soul's eternal state upon himself. As if to set this mat- 
ter forever at rest, and forever to shut the mouth of unbelief, 
the Eternal God, in infinite condescension, comes before the as- 
sembled world of his own guilty creatures, and swears by his 
own Being, not only that he has no pleasure in the death of a 
sinner, but that he has a contrary pleasure — a pleasure in their 
conversion. Now, it is said that among m.en, " an oath of con- 
firmation is an end of all strife;" but it seems that between the 
sinner and God it is not the end of all strife ; but that the sin- 
ner, after refusing to believe the word of God, will go on to 
doubt his very oath ! O, how deep and damning is the sin of 
unbelief! 

The doctrine that God honestly and earnestly desires the 
salvation of the sinner is everywhere taught in the Bible, and in 
the strongest terms. 2 Tim. 2 : 4 — " For this is good and ac- 
ceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all 
men to be saved, and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 2 
Peter, 3 : 9 — " Not willing that any should perish, but that all 
should come to repentance." Many other passages might be 
(juoted to show how earnestly God longs for tlie salvation of 
the greatest sinner, and that when the sinner perishes, it is not 
because there is no love for him in the heart of God, not be- 
cause the blood of Jesus has not been shed for him, not because 
that blood, so efficacious to save others, has no power to save 



MIGHTY TO SAVE. 647 

him ; but simply because he persistently refuses to be saved by 
God's appointed method, faith in the death and righteousness 
of the Lord Jesus. 

If God is a holy God, as is universally acknowledged, then 
he must desire to see all holy ; and, as an evidence of this, when 
a little of God's own Spirit takes possession of any man, from 
that moment he begins intensely to long and pray for the salva- 
tion of all. Now, if a very little of God's Spirit in the heart of 
a Christian makes him desire the salvation of all men, does the 
Spirit itself only desire the salvation of a few .? Ask any good 
man, when the spirit of prayer is imparted to him, how many 
perishing sinners he desires to be saved, and he will at once 
exclaim, "O that all my Saviour knew." 

Now, that desire did not come naturally from himself, neither 
did it come from the prince of darkness, but is in his possession 
because he has been made "partaker of the Divine nature," be- 
cause the mind that was in Christ is in him. In short, the fer- 
vent longing of the believer for the salvation of the world, 
which shows itself in tears, in prayers, and in untiring efforts, is 
but the echo of that voice that comes from the eternal throne, 
'' As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of 
him that dieth, but rather that he would turn unto me and 
live." 

As an unanswerable proof that these were God's feelings to- 
ward a perishing world, when he gave his beloved Son, he sent 
a company of holy angels to announce the errand on which he 
came, not as a Saviour for a few, but for all. " Fear not; for, 
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to 
all people." Now, if Jesus did not die for all, if salvation is not 
free to all, the Gospel could not be glad tidings to any of us. 

Suppose that a number of persons are confined in prison un- 
der sentence of death. One night the door of their cell is 
thrown open, and a messenger from the Governor enters, say- 
ing, " Cheer up, my friends, I have good news for you." They 
would all expect to hear something that would make them 
happy. Every eye is fixed upon the face of the messenger, and 
the interest is intense, when lie breaks the deep silence once 



648 THE world's hope. 

more by saying, " There is pardon and deliverance for so7ne of 
you." This would not really be good news to any of them; it 
would not really make an)- of them happy; but, as they could 
not know who the favored ones were, would cast them back in- 
to greater suspense and anxiety than before. But if a free par- 
don is offered to all without exception, it can truly be called 
good news whether it is received or not. Some might be too 
proud to accept of it, and others might think they could save 
themselves in some other way than by accepting an offer of free 
grace: nevertheless, the message itself was glad tidings, and was 
for all the condemned. 

Our adorable Redeemer must have knoXvn what was the na- 
ture of his mission, and whether the work that he undertook 
was for the whole race, or only for*a part. And, accordingly, 
his account of it is, " God so loved the world, that he gave his 
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not 
perish, but have everlastiiig life." Sinner, there are two words 
here that take you in, however great may have been your sins. 
God loved the world : you are one of the world; therefore, God 
so loved 7^2/ as to give his son to die iox you. The word " whoso- 
ever," also includes you. It includes the whole world who will 
believe in him whose blood cleanseth from all sin. 

Indeed, had the death of our Lord Jesus not been for all, and 
had his love not gone out equally to all, it could not be said of 
him that he kept the law, that he magnified the law, and made 
it honorable. The law required him not only to love God with 
all his soul, but his neighbor as himself. In taking upon him our 
nature he became the neighbor of every man, according to his 
own definition of neighbor, as given in the parable of the good 
Samaritan. Had his love then been only a partial love, had it 
taken in only one portion of the race, and rejected the other, 
he would not have been a perfect Saviour. 

But, as facts sometimes strike the mind more forcibly than 
arguments, permit me to turn the reader's attention to a few 
facts, which show the Lord Jesus as mighty to save the vilest of 
transgressors. One day the Lord was on a visit to Capernaum, 
and was invited to dinner at the house of a Pharisee. While 



MIGHTY TO SAVE. 649 

he sat at table, a woman, whose past Hfe had been stained by- 
sins of deepest- dye, came into the room where he was. Slie 
had doubtless been listening to his soul-searching preaching, 
which had fastened conviction of her lost condition upon her, 
and made the whole .of her past life pass in terrible review be- 
fore her affrighted spirit. She began to wash our Lord's feet 
\vith her tears of penitence, and to wipe them with her hair; and, 
to show the fullness of her grateful heart, regardless of expense, 
she began to anoint him with a very costly oil. 

The Pharisee was dreadfully shocked at such things being 
allowed in his house, and his proud heart swelled with indigna- 
tion as he said within himself, " This man, if he were a prophet 
would have known what manner of woman this is, for she is a 
sinner." Poor, spiritually-blind, mortal ! Well did the blessed 
Redeemer know who she was, and all about her past life; but he 
also knew the deep repentance and the strong faith which filled 
her heart, and, turning to her, after administering a keen rebuke 
to the Pharisee, he said, "Thy faith hath saved thee." 

But we come to a still more notable case. Jesus is on the 
cross in the midst of mortal agonies. The hour of darkness 
now has come, and the curse due to guilty sinners is fallen up- 
on his holy head. Around him a j^erfect tempest of passion is 
raging, and the very creatures for whose guilt he is suffering 
are blaspheming him with a thousand tongues. And, worse than 
all the pains that racked his body, worse than the ravings of 
blasphemy at the foot of the cross, the light of his Father's 
smiles, in which he had from all eternity rejoiced, is now with- 
drawn, and the dismal gloom which falls upon the earth, is but 
a faint emblem of the darkness that covered his holy mind, as 
he exclaimed, " My Trod, my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" 

Yet, even in that terrible hour, he did not forget to labor for 
the souls of the perishing. To his two fellow sufferers he doubt- 
less preached the doctrines of the Kingdom, and one of them 
receives the truth and is saved. He was suffering punishment as a 
thief, as one who had violated the laws both of God and man ; 
but his past sins formed no barrier to .Christ receiving him. He 
had no good works to ])resent, on the ground of which he could 



650 THE world's hope. 

claim acceptance with God, and, blessed be God, they were not 
needed ! He found the blood of Jesus a sufficient plea for his 
justification, and his righteousness an ample covering for his 
naked soul. 

He was a bad man, who had been so hardened in sin that 
even his fellow-men could endure him no longer, but were de- 
termined to rid the earth of his vile presence, by pushing him 
before the bar of God ; but in the last hour of his wasted life 
he believed in Jesus, and that moment his past guilt was all 
forgiven, and the promise of eternal life, from the lips of Jesus, 
fell upon his dying ear. O sinner, why stay away one hour 
longer from such a Saviour, who will in no wise cast out any 
that come unto him } 

We have thus seen what were^the terms upon which Jesus re- 
ceived sinners in the days of Tiis flesh; but he is no longer on 
earth, and the question occurs, is he the same still 1 We are so 
liable to change, ourselves, and are surrounded with so many 
changes, that we are apt to suspect some change in the Friend 
of sinners. But the word of God assures us that He is " the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever ;" and, as a proof of it, we 
see him receiving the chief of sinners after his glorious ascension. 

Shortly after he went to his throne in glory, a young man of 
finished education, and of splendid powers of mind, commenced 
a course of opposition to the Lord's cause. Possessed of great 
energy of character, and of an impetuous spirit, that never did 
anything by halves, he persecuted to death the followers of Je- 
sus, and, to use his own words, was " exceeding mad against 
them." As he went on in his career of blasphemy and of blood, 
the eye of the Saviour looked down upon him, a witness of all 
the dark passions that filled his heart. 

And did that eye flash with the fires of wrath 1 Did a red 
thunderbolt leap from the hands of the Lord, to dash this rebel 
wretch to pieces .? No : the eye that once swam in tears for 
him, still pitied him ; the hand that was once nailed to the cross 
for him, was kindly stretched out to pluck him from destruction ; 
his blasphemies were turned into prayers; his hatred of Christ 
and his people, into love; and, thirty years after, upon a calm 



MIGHTY TO SAVE. 65 I 

review of the whole scene on the road to Damascus, he says, 
" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that 
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
chiefr 

Reader, will you now believe ? I have no means of knowing 
how great a sinner you have been; but, in the name of Jesus, I 
bid you welcome to a Saviour *' mighty to save." The terms of 
Solomon's pardon to Adonijah were, ''If he will show himself 
worthy." But Christ's offer of pardon is burdened with no such 
if. He receives the unworthy who believe in him, and through 
his worthiness makes them worthy. His name is Jesus because 
he saves from sin. An old writer says — "There is majesty in 
the name, God. There is independent being in the name, Jeho- 
vah. There is unction in the name, Christ. There is friendship 
in the word, Immanuel. There is help in the name, Advocate. 
But there is salvation pnly in the name, Jesus." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



The most valuable blessing that man can enjoy on earth is 
peace with God. When the blessed Redeemer was about to 
bid his disciples farewell, and they stood around him in speech- 
less sorrow, this was the gift which he singled out, above all 
others, to bestow upon them as his parting legacy. He was Lord 
of all, and had the whole universe out of which to choose a gift 
for them in that hour of parting tenderness ; and the gift which 
he fixed upon as the most precious to them in their hour of 
need, was, peace with God. " Peace I leave with you, my peace 
I give unto you : not as the world giveth give I unto you." 

Observe, the Saviour does not say that he will give the be- 
liever a peace. The world can do that. The false hope, that 
maketh ashamed, can do that. But he promised to give his 
own peace — the same untroubled calm that dwelt in "liis own 
bosom from all eternity. Before you could make an animal 
happy with man's happiness, you would have to give it man's 
nature ; and before the soul can be made happy with God's 
peace, it must first be made a partaker of God's nature. This 
is done when the soul believes in Jesus, and casts itself unre- 
servedly upon his promises. " Whereby are given unto us ex- 
ceeding great and precious promises; that by these we might be 
partakers of the divine nature.'' Man lost his happiness when 
he lost the image of God upon his soul ; and he can never be 
happy till that image is restored. No outward surrounding can 
make him happy, while he has no peace with God. 

Why was Adam unhappy after he became a sinner .-* He was 
still in paradise, with all its scenes of surpassing loveliness. 
The heavens were as bright above him, and the earth as beauti- 
ful aruund liim as before ; and yet, he is now seen trembling 
with guilty terror, and seeking to hide himself from the pres- 

652 



PEACE WITH GOD. 653 

cnce of his God. The reason is that sin has entered his soul, 
and, instead of peace, there is misery and internal discord. 
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 

You might place a sinner in a palace, and ransack the four 
quarters of the globe, to find objects to administer to his pleas- 
ures. The voices of applauding thousands might shout his 
praise. A crowd of flatterers might bow at his nod ; but sin 
reigning in his heart would convert all into the misery of hell. 
It would make his sweetest music harsh and discordant as the 
groans of the damned. It would make his soul turbulent as the 
heavings of the burning lake, and send out from his heart the 
cry, " All is vanity and vexation of Spirit." 

Almost every good thing in this world has its counterfeit, and 
so it is with peace with God. The prophet Jeremiah tells of some 
in his day who cried, "peace, peace, when there was no peace.'' 
The prophet was bitterly weeping over their lost condition, but 
they had not one tear to shed for themselves. He saw all the 
extent of their tremendous peril, but no fear disturbed their 
deadly stupor. Such persons fondly suppose that all is right 
with them, while all is wrong. They are spiritual bankrupts, 
while they think themselves "rich and increased in goods." 

Perhaps there was a time when deep conviction of sin shook 
their souls to their very centre. The terrors of the Lord, and 
the powers of the world to come, made them afraid. Their 
feelings were excited to the highest pitch of human endurance. 
They longed for peace and comfort to come to them from some 
quarter. Now, in the very nature of things, the sinner will not 
remain long in this state. If he does not go at once to Jesus, 
and become possessor of true peace, he will go back into a cal- 
lous indifference on the subject of religion, or else settle down 
upon some false hope. 

It is a law of all nature that whatever is violent cannot be 
lasting. When we see a very violent storm, we know that it 
will not last long. The violent disease soon exhausts itself or 
the patient. The grief that is furious and clamorous over the 
grave of a friend, seldom lasts long. So, when the mind is 
deeply moved to sorrow and alarm on the subject of religion, 



654 THE world's hope. 

it is according to the philosophy of mind that there will be a 
reaction, that a calm will ensue ; and the great danger is, un- 
less the mind is faithfully dealt with, that this calm will be mis- 
taken for the peace of God. 

That this is the case with thousands of professing Christians, 
is evident fsom the fact that they can give no scriptural and in- 
telligent reason for the hope that is in them. That they felt 
very bad, and that after a time th.Qy felt better, is about the sum 
total of their religious experience. As to how a just and holy 
God can forgive them, without dishonoring his law, and com- 
promising his truth, they can give you no scriptural account ; 
and if they attempt to direct an anxious sinner as to what he 
shall do to be saved, they at once exhibit the spectacle of " the 
blind leading the blind." 

Their religion being founded yy^oxi feeling, wot principle, soon 
settles down into a heartless form ; and should the truth of God, 
at any time, startle their slumbering souls into alarm that all is 
not right with them, they immediately fmd comfort by falling 
back on their religious experience, living in the remote past. 
There is no class of a minister's hearers so hard to be reached 
by divine truth, as those who have thus pillowed their head 
upon a false peace. He may preach the most faithful and 
powerful discourses, leaping warm from a heart filled with in- 
tense solicitude for the perishing. He may expose the danger 
of self-deceivers with a clearness and fidelity that will some- 
times alarm the true saints of God ; for, as an old writer says : 
" It is hard to drive the dogs out without making the children 
cry;" but the deluded soul clutches with a tighter grasp the 
huge falsehood with which it is descending to perdition. 

O ! Dear Reader, look well to the foundation of your peace. 
If you make a mistake in your daily business, it may be cor- 
rected and no great harm done. If, in the erection of a house, 
the construction of a machine, or the solving of a difficult prob- 
lem, you make a mistake, the ground may be gone over again, 
and all be made right ; but if you die wrong, it is an eternal 
mistake ! There is no coming back from the land of despair, 
to correct mistakes made with reference to salvation : but with 



PEACE WITH GOD. 655 

the day of grace ended, every rill of mercy dried up, the light 
of hope quenched in darkness, and insulted justice inflicting 
upon the soul its avenging strokes, eternity will be filled up 
with the doleful lamentation, "The harvest is past, the summei* 
is ended, and I am not saved." 

This peace is the only real support amid the trials and sor- 
rows of life. Earth has no ill for which Jesus has not a cure. 
The heart knoweth its own bitterness, and we are sometimes 
called to pass through afflictions in wliich the tenderest human 
sympathy can do us no good. Human comforters may admi- 
nister temporary relief, like a stupefying opiate given to the 
pain-racked sufferer, but Jesus can give a peace lasting as 
eternity. 

Many are the remedies proposed for the sorrows of life. 
Here is one who, under the deep afflictions of his lot, frets, and 
murmurs, and complains, and makes himself and all around 
him miserable, by pouring out his unavailable complaints. 
Here is another, who sits down under his trials with a hard- 
ened indifference, submitting to the lashes of a something that 
he calls fate, and sullenly declaring that he must bear what he 
cannot help. Of such ways of finding comfort, it may be said, 
as of Job's friends, " Miserable comforters are ye all." 

When trouble comes to the believer, he has far different com- 
fort. He may be placed in the most trying circumstances, and 
every door of outward enjoyment may be shut, but then it is 
that Jesus comes into his soul, and, in his own mild accents of 
love, says, " Peace be unto you." See Paul and Silas in yonder 
gloomy prison. Their persecutors have scourged them till 
blood trickles down ^n^on the floor of their cell; their feet are 
made fast in the stcscks ; and, locked up there in darkness and 
gloom, we might suppose that their state of mind would be one 
of unmingled misery. But in their hearts the imperishable 
principle of peace with God reigned, and so happy were they, 
that they broke out into a song of such gushing gladness, that 
the old prison walls for once reverberated to the very melody 
of heaven. 

The man who has this peace can meet earthly trials, not only 



656 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



calm and undaunted, but rejoicing in all the appointments of 
his Heavenly Father. A shower of afflictions may fall upon 
him, like the stones upon the head of the dying Stephen ; yet 
like him he can see the heavens opened and the face of his 
Lord beaming with a smile of approval. Like the three He- 
brews, he may be cast into the fiery furnace ; but like them One 
walks with him there hke to the Son of God. Like Peter, 
Satan may desire to have him, that he may sift him as wheat ; 
but like him he can hear his Lord say, " I have prayed for you 
that your faith fail not." His frail bark may be launched upon 
a turbulent sea of troubles ; but across the billows he sees Jesus 
coming to comfort him in the dark night of his sorrow ; and 
"with Christ in the vessel, he smiles at the storm." 

Dear reader, to convince you that this is not mere empty 
theory, or a mere flourish of rhetoric, come along with me in 
one of my pastoral visits. We will enter this humble dwelling; 
and, as we enter the sick room, tread softly for you are upon 
holy ground. Angels are there, and the Lord of angels is there. 
Upon the bed lies a kind Christian wife and mother, about to 
close her eyes upon earthly objects. 

By the bed-side stands her husband in deepest distress, bid- 
ding her farewell as she sinks down into the cold river of death. 
There, too, are the little children, soon to be motherless, listen- 
ing to her parting counsels, and imprinting their last kiss upon 
those cold lips that first taught them to say, " Our Father who 
art in heaven." She presses her babe to that loving heart, al- 
ready struck with the chill of death, and, lifting up her eyes to 
heaven, offers for it her last prayer. And then, with a counte- 
nance beaming with peace, she says, " My blessed Saviour has 
come : " I hear him say, ' I have loved thee with an everlasting 
love ; I have engraven thy name upon the palms of my hands.' " 
She speaks to her weeping friends of a bright world where part- 
ing is unknown, where death never shows his ghastly visage, 
and where all that is pure becomes permanent. 

It is thus that peace with God gives complete victory over 
death. John Lambert, who was burned to death for Christ's 
sake, in Smithfield, \^hen his legs were consumed away by the 



PEACE WITH GOD. 657 

fire, lifted up his hand, his fingers blazing like torches, and cried 
with his last breath, " None but Christ ! None but Christ !" 

That great and good man, Samuel Rutherford, said to some 
ministers, who came to see him, on his death-bed : " Brethren, 
do all for Christ ; pray for Christ, preach for Christ, feed the 
flock of Christ, visit the sick for Christ, do all for Christ." 

The dying words of John Knox were, " Come, Lord Jesus : 
sweet Jesus, unto thy hands I comm3nd my spirit." 

The biographer of John Elliot, the missionary among the In- 
dians, tells us that, on his death-bed, "He was full of peace, of 
hope, of a calm and full trust in Jesus, that nothing could shake ; 
yet his humility, like a guardian angel, ever hovered around his 
heart, and kept it in safety." Reader ! prepare to meet thy God. 
Get by faith in Jesus that peace that maketh not ashamed, and 
death to you will be great gain. 

**Is that a death-bed where the Christian lies ? 
Yes, but not his : 'tis death himself there dies." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 



" Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he 
that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy 
wine and milk without money and without price." Dear reader, 
if you were traveling along a public highway, and were to hear 
aloud ^'Ho!" uttered behind you, there are three questions 
that would naturally occur to your mind. First, who speaks ? 
secondly, who is spoken to ? and thirdly, what is spoken about ? 
Now, we are traveling to eternity, and we have listened to the 
solemn call contained in the above text. Let me direct your 
attention to these three questions. 

Who speaks ? It is the great God of heaven and earth who 
thus addresses us. That God who guides the planets in their 
courses, and regulates the wanderings of the flaming comet ; 
who sustains all being, from the worm that crawls beneath our 
feet, to the angel who rolls his deathless song through the courts 
of heaven ; whose awful voice is alike heard in the sighing of 
the zephyr, and in the thunder which rolls in terrific majesty 
across the heavens, — condescends to speak to guilty sinners 
like us. O let us listen with profound awe, for his very " for- 
giveness is to be feared." 

When we open the pages of the Bible, or go to the house of 
God, we are apt to feel as if we bnly heard man speak to us. 
The result is that we sit in judgment upon the Word, instead 
of permitting the Word to sit in judgment upon us. Had we 
stood on the banks of the Jordan, on the occasion of our 
Lord's baptism, and had we heard the voice of God directly 
addressing us from the heavens, we think that we would have 
felt it peculiarly solemn. If, while sitting in our own home, we 
were to see a hand start out before us, and write a direct per- 
sonal appeal to us on the wall, we think we could never forget 

658 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 659 

it. But in reality there is nothing more solemn in God's speak- 
ing to us in an audible voice from heaven, or in God writing a 
message upon the wall, than there is in God writing it in His 
Word, and causing the Divine Spirit to point at our hearts, say- 
ing, " Thou art the man." 

But the fact is that we have got so accustomed to hearing and 
handling the Word of God from our youth, that we fail to real- 
ize that it truly is God speaking to us. This tendency to be- 
come hardened and indifferent under the very abundance of 
our religious privileges, is a sad sign of the deep depravity of 
our hearts. A stranger visiting Niagara Falls, for the first time, 
is thrilled with awe, and trembles at the sound of nature's most 
majestic voice, as " deep calleth unto deep ;" but the people who 
have lived beside the mighty cataract all their days are apt to 
regard it with indifference and scarcely heed the tones of its 
powerful voice. 

So have we seen many an outcast wanderer, who had not be- 
fore entered the house of God for many years, fall down into 
broken-hearted contrition under the first sermon he heard, while 
gospel-hardened sinners sit with utter carelessness under the 
rebukes of the Almighty. Reader, that holy Bible in your 
home is an awful visitor. From week to week, the whole year 
round, it utters Gdd's voice to you. Its presence in your 
household is one of the most solemn events of your life. By it 
you are to be judged on the last day ; and, above the ashes of a 
consumed world, that voice you now little regard will pro- 
nounce your unchangeable doom. 

We come to the next question: W^ho is spoken to } God here 
addresses the whole world ; and yet he is not speaking to the 
inhabitants of the world collectively^ but individually. He is 
speaking to us one by one., as we pass before him, in the words, 
'^ Ho, every o?ie.'' There is a beautiful propriety in this, when 
we remember that men are to be judged individually. It was 
so when man first sinned. Adam was first called up and judged; 
then Eve, next, aad then Satan. And in the great day of final 
account every ??ian is to receive according to the deeds done in 
his body, and all will find their minutest affairs investigated, as 
if they alone had occupied the undivided attention of the Judge. 



bO-O THE WORLD S HOPE. 

Whenever men get spiritual profit under the preaching of the 
gospel, it is when they are ma.de to feel that the Word is a per- 
sonal appeal to themselves. As long as the sinner can hide 
himself in the multitude, and talk about how the preacher spoke 
to f/ie people^ as if it were a matter of no concern to him, the 
Word is rather a savor of death than of life to his soul : but 
when the pulpit becomes to him as a judgment seat ; when his 
long-forgotten sins are all brought up in review ; when he is 
made to forget the surrounding multitude in the deep sense 
of his own individual responsibility to God ; when he is 
prepared to take the whole guilt of his sins upon himself, and 
thus to justify God and to condemn himself; when he no longer 
wishes to have " smooth things " prophesied to him, but places 
himself under the most searching and faithful ministry he can 
find, opening his heart to the rebukes of the Lord, and saying, 
" Search me^ and try me^ and see what wicked way there is in 
w^," — then, and not till then, is the soul in a state to give a 
hearty welcome to Christ's proclamation of love, that love which 
thrills the heart with all the power of a personal appeal : " Unto 
you is the word of this salvation sent." 

God is here speaking to the world as at a distance from Him. 
Do you ask how I know this } I answer, I know it by the use 
of the word *' Ho." We never cry " Ho !" to one who is stand- 
ing near us, but to those who are distant, and whose attention 
we wish to secure. Now, this distance of the sinner from his 
God is not a local or a geographical one. In that sense he is 
every moment near God. His future Judge " is about his bed, 
and about his path, and spies out all his ways." In company 
or in solitude, when plunging into the mad scenes of dissipation, 
or devoured by the iron tooth of remorse in secret, that eye that 
darts through creation at a glance is fixed upon him. And it is 
this thought that troubles him and dashes many an untasted cup 
of pleasure from his lips. Wretched man ! He cannot even 
flee from himself^ much less from his God. The sinner's dis- 
tance from his God is a spiritual one. It is that state of mind 
in which the sinner makes a desperate effort to forget God ; and 
so far succeeds that though surrounded by God, though spared 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 



66 



by His grace, and fed by His Providence, God is not in all his 
thoughts. It is that state of mind in which he can live a prac- 
tical atheist in a v^'orld full of God. 

He forms plans of happiness, but God is not in any of them. 
He enters upon projects that will not bear a glance of God's 
holy eye, and nothing makes him more uneasy than any allusion 
to the fict that the Holy One is near. Hence, he speaks a 
great deal of the order of nature, and of the works of nature, 
and of the laws of nature ; and has exalted over the world a 
certain deity called r/^<^/z^^. Poor wanderer ! he is living in the 
"far country," self-exiled from all that can make life worth pos- 
sessing, and yet glorying in his shame. 

Reader, God is speaking to you now. This is His acceptable 
time for speaking words to you, by which you may be saved. 
Do not refuse to listen to Him now, nor have the daring hardi- 
hood to bid the Almighty wait your convenience. Now we 
know He waits to be gracious, but to-morrow may be too late 
forever ! At any moment life's pendulum may cease its vibra- 
tions and stand still ; the lamp of life may flicker and go out, 
and leave you to fill eternity with the bitter lamentation, " The 
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not saved." 

A late writer, when making an appeal to sinners, uses the fol- 
lowing illustration: — "On a part of the British coast where 
beetling cliff's, from three to five hundred feet in height, overhang 
the ocean, some individuals, during a certain season of the year, 
obtain a solitary livelihood by collecting the eggs of rock-birds, 
and gathering samphire. The way in which they pursue this 
hazardous calling is as follows : The man drives an iron crow- 
bar securely into the ground, about a yard from the edge of the 
precipice. To that crowbar he makes fast a rope, of which he 
then lays hold. He next slides gently over the cliff", and lowers 
himself till he reaches the ledges and crags, where he expects to 
find the object of his pursuit. To gain these places is often a 
difficult task; and when they fall within the perpendicular, the 
only method of accomplishing it is for the adventurer to swing 
in the air, till, by a dexterous management, he can so balance 
himself as to reach the spot on which he wishes to descend. A 



662 THE world's HOPE. 

basket, made for the purpose, and strapped between the shoul- 
ders, contains the fruit of his labor ; and when he has filled the 
basket, or failed in the attempt, he ascends, hand over hand, to 
the summit. 

On one occasion, a man who was thus employed, in gaining 
a narrow ledge of rock, which was overhung by a higher portion 
of the cliff, secured his footing, but let go the rope. He at once 
perceived his peril. No one could come to his rescue, or even 
hear his cries. The fearful alternative immediately flashed on 
his mind — it was, being starved to death, or dashed to pieces 
four hundred feet below ! On turning round, he saw the rope 
he had quitted, but it was far away. As it swung backward 
and forward, its long vibrations testified the mighty efforts by 
which he had reached the deplorable predicament in which he 
stood. He looked at the rope in agony. He had gazed but a 
little while, when he noticed that every movement was shorter 
than the one preceding, so that each time it came the nearest, 
as it was gradually subsiding to a point of rest, it was a little 
farther off than it had been the time before. He briefly rea- 
soned thus : — That rope is my only chance of life ; in a little 
while it will be forever beyond my reach ; it is nearer now than 
it will ever be again ; I can but die — here goes ! So saying, he 
sprang from the cliff, as the rope was next approaching, caught 
it in his grasp, and went home rejoicing." 

In the case of this man every moment's delay was making his 
case more hopeless. As he gazed upon that rope, he knew it 
was nearer to him now than it ever would be again. He there- 
fore took the only wise course, and at once leaped for the rope. 
Dear reader, you stand on the brink of the eternal world, and 
if out of Christ, your peril is extreme. Above you, a God whose 
law you have broken, whose Son you have insulted, and whose 
dread curse you have braved. Beneath you the pit of woe 
opens to receive your soul, made, by your rejection of Christ, 
ripe for devouring vengeance. Behind you is nothing but a 
moral waste, strewed all over with the wreck of abused privi- 
leges, neglected Sabbaths, despised prayers, and counsels of 
pious parents and heaven-sent ministers, and dark traces of 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 66;^ 

your sins. There is not a moment to be lost. The Lord Jesus 
lets down within your reach the rope of salvation. The voice 
of your God in heaven is heard urging you to grasp it. Now, 
O now, or it may be forever too late ! Angels pause on the 
wing of love to see what you will do ; all heaven is interested in 
the result ; all hell is moved for your destruction. This moment, 
while your eye is upon these lines, cast yourself in simple trust 
upon the merits of that Saviour, "who saves to the very utter- 
most all that come unto God through him." 

We come now to the third question: What is spoken about.? 
The whole world is invited to come and accept of salvation, un- 
der the figure of water. This is a figure which is very frequent- 
ly used in the Scriptures, and with a beautiful propriety. Jesus 
stood, on the great day of the Feast, and cried, " If any man 
thirst let him come unto me and drink." Water is essential to 
our existence, and is therefore appropriately used as an emblem 
of the salvation that is in Christ. Let our fountains of water 
fail for even a few days ; let God withold for a little time the 
showers that water the earth, — and one wild cry of misery would 
go up from the earth's population. Let God continue to cut 
off our supplies of water, and soon our world would become one 
vast sepulchre. 

So, salvation through the death of Jesus is absolutely essen- 
tial to the life of the soul. There are Ynany who think that hu- 
man nature is not so utterly depraved but that it can restore it- 
self; that there is a little spark of holiness left, — a little regen- 
erating principle that only requires to be nurtured and cher^ 
ished, to make man all that his God can reasonably require him 
to be. This development theory — this fancy of man having a 
little spiritual capital to start with, which, by trading upon it in- 
dustriously, will make him rich towards God — is one which is 
exceedingly popular in the present day. It builds up the pride 
of human nature, and allows man to glory in self. 

But it is as false as it is dangerous. The Lord says, " Unless 
ye eat my flesh and drink my blood, ye have no life in you." 
He does not say that men have a little life, which, by good 
management on their part, may be brought to great strength and 



664 THE world's hope. 

vigor. No ; but he tells us that " he who believeth on the Son 
hath everlasting life ; and he who believeth not the Son shall 
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth upon him." With- 
out Christ, the description that God gives of the human soul is, 
*^ dead in trespasses and sins;" and, unless quickened by the 
grace of God, it must be forever bound in the chains of the sec- 
ond death. 

Another reason why water may be used as a figure for salva- 
tion, is, its cleansing properties . It is the cleansing element which 
we use in our homes and upon our persons. That man's soul 
is defiled by sin, is not only a doctrine of revelation, but one of 
universal experience. God's holy eye looked down upon our 
world, and the verdict which He gave as to the state of our race 
was, " they are altogether become corrupt." For this universal 
corruption, a remedy has been provided in the blood of Jesus, 
*' which cleanseth from all sin." But many, in the pride of 
their hearts, turn away from God's remedy, and propose plans 
of their own devising. Some propose education and the general 
diffusion of knowledge, as the remedy for the sins of the world. 

Now, I would not say one word against education. Popular 
ignorance is more to be dreaded than the earthquake, the pes- 
tilence, or the famine. The ignorant man, though living amid 
the refinements of civilization, is still but half a savage. But 
rest assured that no amount of education can ever purify the 
heart of man. The first of scholars has often been the first of 
villains ; and men whose splendid intellectual powers have ex- 
cited the admiration of the world, have been men of gigantic 
wickedness. The world is not so badly off for talent as it is for 
moral purity. The chemist may be able to analyze the intoxi- 
cating cup; and tell of its deadly properties ; and the physician 
may be able to tell of its bad effects upon the human system ; 
and yet both of them may be abandoned drunkards. The soul 
of man needs not only to knoiz' what is right, but to love what is 
right. This, nothing but the salvation of Christ can impart. It 
alone can bring with it a double blessing — knowledge in the 
head, and love in the heart As God is both light and love, so 
the Gospel, which comes from Him, enlightens while it purifies. 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 665 

But water may be used as a figure of Christ's salvation, from 
lisfreeness. How free to the whole race, and how abundant 
the supply ! As it rolls past us in the beautiful river, swells and 
undulates in the magnificent lake, or leaps and dashes in the 
mountain torrent, how free it is to all ! The pure gift of God, 
it comes to us "without money and without price." So with 
the salvation that is in the Saviour. As that river of salvation 
rolls past us, the Lord's own proclamation is, " Whosoever will, 
let him take of the water of life freely." Young and old, rich 
and poor, the learned and the ignorant, the bond and the free ; 
all are pressed and plied by the urgency of inviting love, to- 
come. Oh sinner ! if you only knew the gift of God, and who 
is speaking to you, you would this moment begin to ask of Him 
this living water. Wait not to bring a price in your hand, to 
purchase what is offered you as a gift, but come in the depth of 
your soul-poverty, and be enriched with imperishable treasure. 

That was an impressive scene, when God commanded Moses 
to strike the rock in the wilderness, and streams of refreshing 
water gushed forth for the perishing. About a million and a 
half of human beings were perishing for want of water, and as 
the hot wind passed over that scorched and burning plain, 
where all vegetation was dying, it carried upon its wings the 
wild cry of human despair. By the direction of God, Moses 
takes his stand beside the rock in Horeb, and lifts the rod that 
is in his hand, and strikes the rock three times, when behold ! 
a clear, cool, refreshing stream of water gushes forth, and rolls 
away through the camp of Israel. 

See the joy that now beams forth from countenances where, 
but a few moments before, despair sat enthroned. I see moth- 
ers and fathers running with the precious drink to their perish- 
ing children, the strong carrying it to their weak and dying 
neighbors, and shouting the glad tidings in their ears ! Now, 
the Scriptures tell us that the striking of that rock, and the re- 
sult, was a type of Christ, " And did all drink the same spiritual 
drink ; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, 
and that Rock was Christ." — i Cor. lo: 4. 

Those beautiful watei-s that broke out from the rock in' Horeb 



666 THE world's hope. 

were free for all the people. They were not intended for one 
part of the people to the exclusion of the rest. Suppose, how- 
ever, that a man had come and taken his stand beside the gush- 
ing waters with an empty pitcher in his hand. His eyes are 
blood-shot, his tongue cleaves to the roof of his mouth, and his 
whole appearance indicates extreme suffering for want of water ; 
yet instead of drinking and dipping his pitcher full, he stands 
saying within himself, " I am a poor creature ; I can do nothing 
of myself; it is true I am perishing for water, but I must wait 
God's good time ;" and he actually stands there expecting that 
in God's good time the water will flow up into his pitcher and 
fill it full. How long do you suppose he would have to wait } 
Would God work another miracle to satisfy his whim, and to 
indulge his insolence in refusing to use the heaven-appointed 
means within his reach ? No : we can all see the folly of such 
■conduct in temporal matters ; and yet in spiritual things many 
of my readers may be following a similar course. 

The Rock Christ Jesus was stricken for you. The waters of 
salvation gush forth for you. The Lord's own invitation to 
you, is, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." 
And yet, instead of taking your Saviour at his word, and sim- 
ply believing on him as all your salvation 7iow^ you are waiting for 
some specially favored time to come and fit you forgoing to Christ, 
by making your heart softer and purer than it is now ! That 
time will never come, and your heart will become harder, and 
you will drift away farther from God the longer you stay away 
from Jesus. The only difference between one man and another 
in God's sight, is that one has believed on the Lord Jesus, and 
the other has not. Here are two men — one of them is a child 
of God, a joint heir with Christ, a crown of glory in reserve for 
him, and the favor of God now shining upon his path ; the 
other is under the curse of the law; the wrath of God abideth 
upon him, and dying in his present state his soul will be lost as 
sure as the God of truth has spoken. 

Now what has made this vast difference .'' Simply, that the 
one has believed in the Lord Jesus, and the other has rejected 
him. This alone will make the difference between those on the 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 667 

right hand and those on the left, in the day of judgment. And 
unbeh'ef alone fixes the great gulf between heaven and hell for- 
ever ! One came to our Lord, in the days of his flesh, and said, 
■" What shall I do that I may work the works of God ?" and the 
reply was, " This is the work of God, to believe on Him whom He 
hath sent." Not a single step can be taken heavenward till this 
is done. 

I have lately seen an account of a conversation between a 
Christian gentleman and a young lady, who was deeply anxious 
about her soul, that will illustrate this point. She described 
herself as " uncertain what to do." "Why are you uncertain 
what to do .?" he asked. She replied, " I have been coming 
daily to these meetings for four weeks, and all that time I have 
felt anxious about my soul ; but all I do does not seem to make 
my case any better." ''What do you try to do .'*" "I have 
striven to convince myself that I am a sinner — as I know I am. 
But though I know it, as a truth I do not feel about it as I 
should." "How would you feel about it if you couM.?" "I 
would have deep conviction." " What is your present impress- 
ion about yourself. '*" " That I am a great sinner — that is all." 
"And what would you have more.?" "That is what I do not 
understand. My next step should be for deeper conviction. 
But what further can I do V' 

"Your mistake is a very common one," he replied. "Your 
next step, and only step, is to Christ, just as you are. Go to 
Him at once. You can do nothing. Hitherto you have been 
relying upon yourself. Renounce all this as a dishonor done 
to Christ as a Saviour, and go to Him for all the help you need, 
hope for, or desire." "Oh!" said she, as if a neAv light had 
dawned upon her mind, "is that my next step.?" "Not your 
next, as if you had already taken one or more right steps in re- 
ligion. Going to Christ is your first step and 07ily step. He 
does not say, ' come to conviction — come to a deeper sense of 
sin.' But He says, * Come unto me.' " 

She then exclaimed, " O ! what a self-righteous creature I am ! 
I see it all now. I have been refusing Christ, while all this time 
I thought I was preparing to come to Him." "Will you go to 
Jesus nou'f' " I will," was the emphatic reply. 



668 THE world's hope 

Suppose a number of the Israelites, after Moses struck the 
rock, and after they had seen the waters gush forth, had not 
only refused to drink of these waters, but had gone and com- 
menced striking another rock, determined to obtain water for 
themselves or perish; their corpses would soon have lain around 
the rock, awful evidences of the danger of despising God's way 
of saving us, and of substituting our own. They might have 
been very sincere in their efforts to obtain water by their own 
works; they might have spent whole days and nights in the 
most earnest attempts to accomplish their object ; but their sin- 
cerity would not make the water flow, nor make the Almighty 
abandon His own plan and adopt theirs. 

Paul bore witness to the sincerity of the Jews, when they were 
going about to establish a righteousness of their own, and would 
not submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ ; but he 
does not tell us that because of their sincerity, God will accept 
their righteousness instead of Christ's. No : sincerity is not re- 
ligion — it does not make error truth, nor change an act of hu- 
man pride into an act well pleasing to God. 

Over a river in Scotland, a strong stone bridge had been 
erected. Shortly after its completion, a furious storm of rain, 
of some days continuance, raised the waters of the river to a 
great height. The wild torrent came down with appalling force, 
bearing on its bosom the trunks of trees and huge blocks of 
wood. The arches of the bridge were filled with the rushing 
waters, and the strong structure seemed to shake under the 
pressure upon it. A crowd of persons were assembled on each 
side of the river, afraid to venture upon the bridge, and watch- 
ing with intense anxiety for the result — when all at once a man 
on horseback galloped up, and before any one could stop him, 
rode up to the very center of the bridge. There he stood, and 
in clear tones which rose above the roar of the tempest, ex- 
claimed, " I am not afraid, my friends ; I k7iow it will not give 
way; I am sure it will stand." That man was the architect of 
the bridge, and he was thus boasting in the work of his own 
hands. To many his confidence appeared foolishness, though 
the result proved that his trust was not misplaced. 



THE THIRSTY INVITED. 669 

What a far more rational ground of confidence has the be- 
liever in the work of the Lord Jesus ! He feels that the foun- 
dation is perfect and can never give way. Amid the storms of 
coming warmth and the th.mders of judgment, when great bil- 
lows of fire shall be rolling across our globe, he shall be able to 
lift up his triumphant voice, and say. *' I know that my Re- 
deemer liveth. I know that He will keep what I have com- 
mitted to Him against this day." Who shall lay anything to 
the charge of God's elect ? 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NEW CREATURE. 

The Apostle Paul says, " If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is 
a new creature.'' I have been at some pains informer articles, 
to show that out of Christ the sinner cannot really perform any 
good work, for " whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Hence all at- 
tempts of men to make themselves holy first, before they come 
to JesuSj^must prove a failure, and if persevered in, will end in 
eternal disaster. 

But it is equally true, that if a sinner truly believes in the 
Lord Jesus, he will begin at once to abound in good works. 
The Lord Jesus has done a work in true Christians as well as a 
work for them, and he never saves from the guilt of sin, with- 
out at the same time saving from its power. Accordingly, if be- 
lievers are said to be elected, it is " through sanctification of the 
Spirit." If they are said to be predestinated, it is "to be con- 
formed to the image of his Son." If they are said to be chosen, 
it is " that they may be holy before him in love." In short, the 
only evidence a man can give that he has a living and not a 
mere dead faith^ is a holy life ; for faith " worketh by love and 
purifieth the heart'' An old writer remarks, "Say not that thou 
hast royal blood in thy veins, and art born of God, except thou 
canst prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy." 

If a man had rather gossip at home or in his neighbor's 
house, than go to a prayer-meeting; if he had rather run to 
liear fifty sermons, than practice one ; if he had rather talk 
about ministers and criticise their performances than pray for 
their success, or pay for their support; if he had rather talk 
about a thousand sins in his brethren, than mortify one in him- 
self; if he had rather read the newspaper or the novel than 
God's Holv Word; in fine, if he acts as if Christ was very 
holy, to save him the trouble of being so, he may rest assure J. 

670 



THE NEW CREATURE. 67 1 

that though he may pray with the seeming earnestness of an 
Elijah, and talk of his feelings like a Daniel, and weep like a 
Jeremiah, all his religion is only the cant of the hypocrite, or the 
ravings of the self-deceiver. 

Among the first evidences of the new creature in Christ Jesus, 
is a liwe for the Bible. One of the most common remarks which 
ministers hear from the lips of young converts, is, " Oh, sir, it 
seems to me like a new book !" They may have been taught to 
read and reverence it from their earliest youth; they may have 
committed large portions of it to memory in the Sabbath School, 
and have acquired a general knowledge of its contents ; yet no 
sooner do they believe on Jesus, than untold beauty, which they 
never discovered before, gleams out on every page of it, and 
they exclaim with David, " O how I love thy law." 

Nor is this greatly to be wondered at, when we remember that 
the same Holy Spirit which inspired the Bible has now taken 
possession of their hearts, leading them not only to love it, but 
opening their eyes to discern "the things of the Spirit." And I 
have no doubt that the reason why so much of the professed piety 
of the present day is of such a stunted, dwarfish kind, is that it is 
more public than private, and more fed by harangues about re- 
ligion, than by the pure, unadulterated word of truth itself. 

If we read the memoirs of the martyrs and other holy men 
of God, whose undying example has shone down to us through 
the darkness of intervening years, we will find that their sturdy 
piety, vigorous faith, and unbending principle gathered daily 
strength from reading and meditating upon God's Word. If we 
read the lives of the men most pre-eminet for usefulness in the. 
Church of God in modern times, we will find that they were all 
emphatically Bible Christia?is ; and from this holy source they 
drew that strength which enabled them, in the language of one, 
" to strike the kingdom of darkness with blows that resounded 
through eternity." 

That piety which is fed merely upon public meetings, narra- 
tives of personal experience, emotional hymns, sermons, and all 
that is exciting in religious gatherings, will be found to be a 
poor, fitful, sickly piety indeed ; while that piety which draws 



67-' THE world's hope. 

all its nourishment from the Bible, will not only derive most 
good from public privileges, but like the source from which it 
draws its life, "will endure forever." 

Permit an illustration not drawn from imagination. In yon- 
der small cottage lives a poor widow, whose only son, a child of 
many prayers, left her many years ago, to enter upon the perils 
physical and moral, of a sailor's life. Since that time she has 
heard nothing of her loved one, and has long given him up for 
dead. One day her pastor is with her, directing her to the 
precious promises of the Bible, when a knock is heard at the 
door, and a letter is handed in. The widow perceives at a 
glance that it is the well-known handwriting of her long lost 
son. What excitement thrilled through her whole frame ! 
What joy lighted up her countenance, as she exclaimed, " My 
son is yet alive !" And with what eagerness was every word of 
that letter read and fondly lingered upon ! 

Reader, suppose that when she discovered the handwriting of 
her son, she had laid the letter carelessly upon a shelf till the 
dust of weeks accumulated upon it before she read it ; — would 
she have shown any evidence of love to her son ? Or, suppose, 
after a long tune, she had taken it down just from a cold sense 
of duty, or to satisfy conscience, yawning and dozing at the end 
of each paragraph ; — would this be any evidence of love to her 
son ? No : whatever might be her professions, you would know 
that there was not one spark of true motherly love in her heart, 
were she to act thus. 

The Bible is a letter from the Father of love, from whom we 
have been so long estranged. It speaks out the feelings of His 
heart toward us, and kindly invites us to return to the enjoy- 
ment of His favor. If we take no pleasure in reading it; if we 
are unwilling to make any sacrifices to understand it more 
fully; if we are delighted with the light and the trifling litera- 
ture of the day, and regard the Bible as dry and uninteresting, 
we may rest assured that it is because "the love of the Fatlier 
is not in us." 

My dear reader, cultivate an intimate and intelligent ac^ 
quaintance with your Heavenly Father's will. Study the whole 



THE NEW CREATURE. 673 

of it, for it is all profitable. As a good old Christian'^nce re- 
marked, "The Old Testament is the New Testament revealed." 
It will be to us a guide through a world of darkness and per- 
plexity ; wiping the eye of sorrow ; cheering the heart of sad- 
ness, and Hashing the light of its glorious promises across the 
valley of the shadow of death. 

Another evidence of the new creature, is love to the Lord 
Jesus. An officer on the field of battle was engaged in person- 
al conflict with one of the enemy, when he slipped and fell to 
the ground : ,in an instant his opponent's sword was lifted for 
his destruction, when one of his men, who loved him, threw him- 
self between him and the uplifted weapon, and received it in 
his own heart. Now, as the officer rose from the ground cover- 
ed with the blood of the man who bad laid down his life for 
him, must not the emotion of love have filled his heart to over- 
filowing.? 

And it is not possible for any one to believe that Jesus in- 
terposed between the point of the sword of Divine Justice and 
his guilty heart, and received in his own innocent heart the ter- 
rible blow which the sinner deserved, without feeling the kind- 
ness of a love that will be as permanent as God's throne. 
Hence, all over the world, and under all variety of circum- 
stances, Christians are able to say, " Lord, thou knowest all 
things, thou knowest that I love thee." 

It is said that after the battle of Waterloo, a surgeon going 
over the field to aid the suffering, came to a French soldier 
badly wounded. As he began to probe the wound to find the 
fatal bullet, the dying man started up with a convulsive effort, 
and exclaimed, "A little deeper, and you will find the emperor," 
meaning his heart. So wherever you find a Christian, without 
respect to color or clime, from the frigid to the torrid zone, you 
will find that, deeper than the love of home, deeper than the 
love of kindred, deeper than the love of life itself, is the love 
of the Lord Jesus. One of the primitive Christians when 
brought to the bar of Trajan, and asked, " Art thou a Chris- 
tian .?" replied, "I am: I have Christ in me." Trajan then 
asked him to deny Christ, when he exclaimed, " What ! shall 



674 THE world's hope. 

I deny my Lord and Master ? / have Christ in vie. He was 
immediately led to martyrdom. 

Among the first feelings produced by the belief of the Gospel, is 
joy, and the next is love. If a person \^ere to rush into a burn- 
ing building and save your life when in great danger, your first 
emotien would be joy because of your own deliverence, but 
your second emotion, as soon as you had time for reflection, 
would be that of gratitude to your deliverer. Thus it is that 
the reception of the gospel truth makes the sinner happy zxid holy 
at the same time. " Faith worketh by love and purifieth the 
heart." 

Hence it is, that the young convert abandons the scenes of 
former gayety and worldly pleasure, in which he bore a con- 
spicuous part, because he has ceased to have any enjoyment in 
them ; his new-found joy in God and love to Jesus having given 
him new enjoyments, as much superior to those of the world, as 
the sun is to the glimmering light of a taper. His worldly 
friends think that the reason why he has left their dancing par- 
ties and the exciting scenes of the theatre, is the dread of hell 
or the fear of the censure of the church, or a desire to stand 
well with his new associates ; but this is a great mistake. He 
has ceased to find any pleasure where he formerly sought it so 
eagerly, and he has begun to drink of those rivers of pleasure 
that are to gladden his soul forever. 

It is said that there was a deep trench around the walls of 
the ancient city of Babylon, which, when opened, could absorb 
the waters of the great river Euphrates and leave its channel 
dry ; so the love of Christ has produced such a full and satisfy- 
ing joy in the soul, that all worldly channels of pleasure are left 
dry and worthlesss. 

Whenever I hear professing Christians beginning to inquire 
what harm there can be in the social dance, or what harm there 
can be in the theatre, or in games of chance, I always know 
that it is a sign that the love of Christ is declining in their 
hearts, if indeed it ever existed at all. It is an attempt to get 
something to satisfy conscience, and is virtually declaring that 
the bread of life with which Christ feeds the soul does not sat- 



THE NEW CREATURE. 67^, 

isfy, and that therefore they are anxious to find some excuse for 
getting back to the service of Satan. And, instead of arguing 
the rightncss or the wrongness of those things of which no truly 
spiritual mind has any do«bt, I would say, Take heed, my 
brother, to your own heart. Your Lord has warned you, not 
only against going back, but against even looking back ; and 
you are instructed not to seem to come short. You are to shun 
the very appearance of evil, and the very fact that you are be- 
ginning to glance with approval at the abounding iniquity of 
the world, shows that your love to the Redeemer is "waxing 
cold." Take that cold heart again to Jesus ; and rest not sat- 
isfied till it is brimming over with his love, " who was holy, 
harmless, and separated from sinners." 

An anxious desire for the salvation of the perishing is an evi- 
dence of the new creature in Christ Jesus. Suppose this day 
that a stranger were to enter your house. His apparel is plain, 
and almost mean. His cast of countenance is kind and benev- 
olent, and yet a solemn sadness sits upon it, as if the shadow of 
some big sorrow were passing over it. This stranger begins to 
speak to you, and his words burn into your very heart. His 
conversation lifts your mind from the vain and the perishing, — 
makes you feel as if you heard the echo of those transporting 
strains that fill the courts of heaven. 

You are wondering who this stranger can be, when all at once 
your eye§ are opened, and you see that you are in the presence 
of your Saviour. He shows you the scars of those wounds he 
bore for you, and with that mild eye fixed upon you, which 
broke Peter's heart, he asks you if you love him. With a trem- 
bling earnestness you answer, " Blessed Saviour, I do love thee !" 
He tells you that all around you are dying sinners. That he 
has shed his precious blood for them, and longs for their salva- 
tion with a depth of solicitude of which you can form no con- 
ception. And then he asks you, as an evidence of your love to 
him, that you will go to them and tell them the story of his love, 
and urge them to flee from the wrath to come. Christians, Je- 
sus is thus speaking to you. The perishing are thus around you. 
They live in your houses, they eat at your boards; you mingle 



676 THE world's hope. 

with them every day in the business of life. O, as you love the 
Lord Jesus, as you value an eternity of bliss, and as you would 
not, in the day of judgment, be found red all over with the blood 
of souls, try to pluck them as "brands from the burning." 



CHAPTER XI. 



WORKING FOR JESUS. 



It is a source of sublime satisfaction to reflect that the cause 
of Christ on earth is destined to enjoy a perfect triumph. We 
have the authority of God's word for believing that long as the 
sun shall shine— long as the moon sends her silvery beams 
across the world — the name of Jesus shall thrill the human heart 
with the magic of its power. The Lord whom we serve is erect- 
ing a spiritual temple upon the Rock of Ages, and "the gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it." Amid the rising and the fall- 
ing of empires, amid the rush and the conflict of hostile parties, 
in spite of the unholy intrigues of political schemers, and the 
proud boasts of infidel blasphemers, that temple shall continue 
to increase in strength and loveliness, till the top stone is 
brought forth amid shoutings of grace, grace! 

But how is a result so glorious to be brought about ? Not by 
a time-serving policy, and a spirit of unholy compromise on the 
part of God's people ; not by keeping in the background the 
great truths of the Gospel for which Apostles contended, even 
unto death ; not by splitting God's truth into portions, and call- 
ing them essential and non-essential, important and unimpor- 
tant, in order to suit the taste and to gain the favor of a degen- 
erate world. No. If truth is to triumph, it must be by the 
display of a spirit the very reverse of all this, — a spirit which 
bows with the profoundest reverence before the whole of the re- 
vealed will of God, and cherishes every part of Gospel truth as 
its life and strength, — a spirit which, while it loves the whole 
body of the faithful, called by what name they may be, and while, 
it weeps burning tears over a perishing world, still adheres, with 
stern resolution, to the laws and established order of Christ's 
kingdom, and had rather die a thousand deaths than yield up a 

677 



678 THE world's HOPE. 

single fragment of " the truth as it is in Jesus." This was the 
Spirit of the great Captain of our salvation; this the spirit which 
inspired the faithful in all ages, and the man who possesses it 
leaves the impress of his own lofty character upon society, and 
occupies the high and honorable position of a faithful witness 
for God. 

Much is said in the present day about Christian charity, and 
of the necessity of its controlling the judgment we form of those 
who differ from us in opinion. Now, it is vastly important that 
we should possess that charity, which is first of all the graces, 
and without which the most high-sounding professions are but 
an empty name. But there is a principle which passes current 
in society for Christian charity, which has nothing of charity 
but the name. True charity is the child of heaven ; this has 
its birth of earth. True charity rejoices in the truth ; this sac- 
rifices truth to expediency. True charity is hated by the world ; 
this, by the wicked, is rapturously applauded. True charity 
thinks of what is rights and leaves consequences with God ; this 
thinks of consequences first, and leaves the right to be the child 
of circumstances. True charity " rejoiceth in the truth." It 
boldly adheres to what is right, rather tl>an to what is popular, 
and, undaunted by the cry of bigotry, which the ignorant and 
the designing may raise against it, " contends earnestly for the 
faith once delivered to the saints." It says, " I fear God and I 
know no other fear." 

Dear Reader, I entreat you to cherish unshaken confidence 
in the power of truth. Truth in the hand of Jehovah is omnip- 
otent, men may shackle it ; they may imprison it ; they may, 
for a time, bury it amid the rankest errors, and the most un- 
seemly and unshapen evils ; but loose its shackels, give it room 
for operation, and it will arise, fresh and immortal, and dispel 
everything around it that wants the impress of its own holy na- 
ture. It says nothing against the power of truth, that error is 
sometimes so prevalent, that it seems to triumph over it. As 
well might we argue against the pervading nature of light, be- 
cause there are many dungeons in the world that have never 
been visited by a single ray. When we darken our houses by 



WORKING FOR JtSUS. 679 

shutting our doors, and keeping out the light from our windows, 
is this held as evidence that light is less powerful than darkness ? 

I fear there are many professing Christians in the present day 
who have very little faith in the power of truth, or in the over- 
ruling providence of God ; for they will not breathe a syllable 
against popular error, till they have measured, and ascertained 
to a nicety, the length and breadth of consequences, and how 
far they may safely venture without giving offence. Why are 
men so much afraid of conseqences now? O, that like Noah, 
and Daniel, and Paul, they would but do their duty, and trust 
God with results! Why should we suspect God's fidelity? 
Why should we act as if he were a Being who sees no distinc- 
tion between right and wrong, and who is ever ready to aban- 
don the cause of truth and holiness, w^hich he has sworn to 
maintain? Why should we act as if he were in the habit of 
breaking his word, and leaving in their trying moments* those 
who speak truth and work righteousness? 

Beloved reader, my prayer for you is that you may be bold 
for the truth, and that a double portion of the Spirit of God 
may be given you, that when the storms of opposition from the 
world begin to rage around you, you may feel the pleasant light 
of the sun of righteousness shining upon your soul, and stand, — 

" Like some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vail and midway leaves the storm ; 
Around whose base, while rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 

These lines present the picture of a " great head," rising su- 
perior to detraction, and fixing a single eye upon the Saviour, 
while sore beset by the world's opposition. It is such a picture 
as is presented in the first Christian martyr — the devoted 
Stephen. Think of what that God-like man saw ere he forgave 
his enemies, and " fell asleep." "" Behold," said he, " I see the 
heavens opened, and the Son of Man sta7idi7ig at the right hand 
of God." He saw Jesus, not sitting, but standing. Now, it is 
said, " When he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on 
the right hand of the Majesty on high ;" and when he ascended 



68o 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



the Father said to him, as evidence that his work was accepted, 
"'Sit on my right hand, till I make thy enemies thy footstool." 
But when Jesus looked down, and saw the dauntless Stephen 
defending his cause single-handed, in the midst of bloody men, 
he stood up to receive and welcome the soul of his servant. 
Like Joseph with his brethren, he could no longer refrain him- 
self. O, who can tell with what intense interest the Prince of 
Martyrs stood and gazed upon him who was proving faithful 
unto death ! Glorious sight ! Well might Stephen " rejoice in 
spirit " when he saw that Almighty gush of tenderness toward 
him. There he saw a Saviour, who more than died a thousand 
deaths for him, and whose sounding bowels longing for his em- . 
brace, parted the sky asunder, and made the way to heaven 
ready, ere he was ready to enter. Well may he strike now with 
a bolder hand the celestial lyre, and roll his deathless songs 
over the hills of paradise. Who can now forbid him to tell of 
Immanuel's love, or pluck the laurels from the sacred brow of 
the martyr .? He can now roll on his immortal numbers in 
praise of Jesus, and none can taunt him with singing too long 
or too loud of his excellencies. 

And what, my dear reader, should hinder us from catching 
up the chorus } Is the " Lamb slain," less worthy of our praises 
now than he will be hereafter.? What although we hear every- 
where around us the hissing of the serpent.? Let us drown his 
loud hissing by our louder praises. Those who work hardest 
for Jesus now, and are least ashamed of him now, will hereafter 
shine brightest in glory. While vice walks forth boldly, and 
reigns rampant, let not Christians be ashamed boldly to ac- 
knowledge Christ's cause ; not in secret places, but in the face 
of day ; not in whispers, but in tones loud enough to convince 
sinners that they are in downright earnest, and that they fear 
their eternal destruction more than any reproaches they can 
cast on them. Time was when Christians rose with the sun, 
and boldly sung the praises of the Lord, and made it the very 
business of their lives to promote his glory. But " the god of 
this world," not liking such proceedings, raised a storm and 
drove them into " dens and caves of the earth." 



WORKING FOR JfcSU-S. 68 i 

Satan can ill endure the thought that Christians should be as 
bold for Christ as sinners are for him ; and rather than allow 
them to be so, he will move earth and hell to abash and dis- 
courage them. He dreads to see believers stand up for God in 
open day. He knows, indeed, the power of secret prayer, but 
he knows also that God will not own prayer unless it is sec- 
onded by action. When this is not the case, the prayer is in- 
sincere, and cannot be heard. Let our prayers, then, be ac- 
companied by bold action, the bolder the better, unless it be 
inconsiderate and rash. Our Saviour not only gives us the cup 
of life for ourselves, but promises us a reward if we help it 
round to others. He offers a premium, proportioned to the 
activity of those who become co-workers with him in pleading 
with others to receive the cup of salvation. 

You cannot wish to have the blood of souls upon you in the 
great day, when the Master appears; then be now faithful in 
presenting the Saviour to all who come under your influence 
To be privileged to tell the glad story of the cross ; to stand 
between the Eternal God and perishing men, as they rush on in 
haste to perdition, and entreat them to be reconciled to God, is 
the most solemn work that man can engage in on this side of 
the eternal world. This work is not committed to ministers 
alone, for the Lord says, " I>et him that heareth, say come." 
The persons with whoni you daily come in contact, are not the 
creatures of a day, whose knell is to be rung when the light of 
life forsakes their eyes. All is not to be over with them when 
they reach the boundary line that separates time from eternity, 
else might you have some excuse for your indifference. But 
they are to live as long as God lives, in bliss unspeakable, or in 
woe of which no imagination can form a conception. 

They are now living amid the light of the Gospel, which per- 
mits of no neutrality, and which must prove the savor of life or 
of death to each of their souls. Upon you it may depend 
whether they are to be saved or lost. O, my brother, this great 
responsibility Jesus puts upon you ! It is a responsibility under 
which an angel might tremble, and would fall upon our minds 
with a crushing weight were it not that the same Lord who 
gives the command, promises also strength for its performance 



682 THE world's hope. 

Besides, he only asks us to go and tell his truth : he does not 
ask us to go and be successful ; for success is /f/j- work, not ours. 
The sinner may scorn your message, and fling back the truth 
you utter with a proud contempt ; but the fact that you have 
warned him w^ith tearful earnestness, and w^ith a loving heart, 
will acquit you of all blame in the day of the Lord. 

A father, one beautiful summer afternoon, went out to walk 
in the fields, with his little daughter, a child of some four or five 
years of age. While the little one amused herself in picking 
flowers and chasing butterflies, the father sat down under the 
shadow of a tree, and fell asleep. He slept but a short time ; 
but when he awoke his loved one was no where to be seen. In 
earnest tones he called hei name, but echo only answered his 
voice, when, discovering a precipice at one side of the field, he 
rushed to its edge and gazed over, when, to his horror, he saw 
the corpse of his dear child, her fair hair stained in her own 
blood. 

Who can tell the anguish of that father .^ He blamed him- 
self with her death, and in wild and frantic words called him- 
self her murderer. It was a heavy burden upon his mind till 
his dying day. Dear parent, take heed that you do not slumber 
and sleep in spiritual indifference, while your dear children are 
dropping into hell ! If their bodies are suffering, you run in 
eager haste for medical aid, and hang over them in deep 
anguish ; but, O, neglect not the disease of the soul ! Send for 
the Great Physician, in believing and importunate prayer, say- 
ing " Come down ere my child die." He will hear you, and 
make your children God's children and heirs of Eternal Glory 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 683 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE GOSPEL FEAST. 

Dear Reader : I have now set before you the world's hope> 
as seen in Christ crucified. The great feast of God's love has 
been spread before you, and you have been earnestly, lovingly 
urged to partake. " O ! taste and see that the Lord is gra- 
cious." It is to me a matter of deep, heart-felt solicitude 
what you will do with this invitation. Will you reject it or 
receive it .'' Your eternal well-being hangs upon your decis- 
ion. I am solemnly reminded of our Lord's parable of the 
great marriage feast, and of the man who came there without 
a proper garment, and before parting I would call your atten- 
tion to the lessons taught us by that instructive parable : 
Matt,, xxii., 11 and 12 : "And when the King came in to 
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wed- 
ding garment ; and he said unto him, Friend, how camest 
thou in hither not having a wedding garment ? And he was 
speechless." 

Our Blessed Saviour here uses one of his striking parables, 
to show God's dealings with his creatures, both under the Old 
and the New Dispensations. A great king is represented as 
preparing a feast on the occasion of the marriage of his son. 
There were certain invited guests to whom the king sent a 
general call to come to the banquet, as all was now ready. 
They, however, treated the call with contempt, and went their 
ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandize ; while 
some others laid hold of the kinsj's servants, treating them 
shamefully, and even putting some of them to death. Against 
such vile and ungrateful conduct the king's resentment flamed 
forth, and he sent out his armies to destroy the murderers, and 
to burn up their cities. 



684 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



But because those first invited proved themselves unworthy, 
and ungrateful, is the feast to be unattended and lost ? No 
He again commissions his servants to go forth with a free, gen- 
eral invitation to all to come to the feast : yea, to go to the 
highways and use the most pressing invitations, that the ban- 
queting-room may be filled. This is done, the guest chamber 
is filled, the king comes in to see his company, when one soli- 
tary individual is noticed as not arrayed in a wedding gar- 
ment , the reason for this strange neglect is demanded, but the 
offender is speechless — he has not a word of excuse to utter 
He is, therefore, ordered to be bound hand and foot, and cast 
into outer darkness. 

Our Lord's meaning in this parable it is not difficult to see 
The Jews had been a chosen, a peculiar people, to whom God 
had committed his holy oracles, and to whom a long line of 
prophets and holy men had been sent to invite them to come 
to God's banquet of love. Many of these messengers that 
came with Jehovah's message on their lips, were treated with 
the fiercest scorn, and even put to death. The gracious Sa- 
viour himself, and his Apostles, invited them to the feast with 
no better result. Still God treated them with amazing for- 
bearance and long-suffering, for after the crucifixion of our 
Lord, when the full atonement had been made by the slaying 
of the Lamb, and in a special sense the feast might be said to 
be ready, he renewed the invitation in a most pressing form. 
The Apostles were commanded to begin at Jerusalem, the 
capital of their nation, and offer them salvation. Yes, the 
very men who had nailed the Holy Redeemer to the cross, and 
whoes hands were red with the blood of murder, had the offer 
of free forgiveness through the blood of the cross. God had 
sent his own Son to them, and they had rejected him, and 
treated him with the most malignant hate; but that rejected, 
despised Saviour still invites them, through the lips of his ser- 
vants, to come to him, and the streets of Jerusalem resound 
with the glad tidings. 

But all this wealth of love is displayed in vain. The last mes- 
sengers are treated even worse than the first. They became 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 685 

maddened at the very offer of pardon, because it implied guilt, 
which they were too proud to acknowledge. At last the 
measure of their iniquity became full, and the wrath of the 
Great King blazed forth against them. He sent against them 
avenging armies, and their beautiful city was burned. Fear- 
ful retribution came upon them. Abandoned to their own vile 
passions, discord, petty jealousy, ungovernable rage, and wild 
anarchy took possession of the people. Thousands upon 
thousands of them perished miserably by famine and battle ; 
while the rest were dispersed, as wanderers and vagabonds, 
among all lands ; covering every shore with the fragments of a 
nation's shipwreck. 

But the Great King 'would not suffer his provided feast to 
be unattended. His servants went forth to the highways and 
hedges, with an unlimited invitation. No longer confined to 
the Jews, nor to the people of any one nation, the invitation 
was to the whole world, " Come, for all things are now ready." 
To the Jews the awful words had been uttered, " Seeing ye 
count yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo ! we turn to 
the Gentiles." The whole world was to be the field of exer- 
tion for God's heralds, and salvation was to be published in 
all the highways of the earth to every tribe of man. 

Some, we learn, may come into the guest chamber, which 
means Christ's visible church, who are not Christians — whd 
have not the robe of the Saviour's rightequsness upon them. 
But the glance of Christ's eye is upon such, and though they 
may deceive their fellow men, they cannot deceive him. This 
man was among that large class, who seem to think that to be 
in Christ's Church is as good as being in Christ himself. Alas! 
how many now are in the world of woe, who when upon earth 
were in the outward church ! They heard the word of God 
with deep attention; they broke off many outward sins; they 
took a warm interest in religious matters ; parents and minis- 
ters were greatly encouraged, and spoke of them as Christians ; 
they were encouraged to unite with the church, and may even 
have been elevated to official positions in the house of God ; 
till at last God in his providence applied such tests, or j)laced 



686 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

them in such circumstances, as developed their true character, 
and showed that the root of the matter was not in them. An 
egg and an egg-shell are very different, and yet at a little dis- 
tance they look very much alike ; so a man who has but an 
empty profession may, on ordinary occasions, appear as well 
as the man who has Christ in his heart, the hope of glory ; but 
when the testing time comes, which God is sure to send, the 
difference will be made most apparent. 

Standing upon the mountain top, in the summer time, and 
looking upon the forest clothed in its beautiful mantle of 
green, you could not tell the trees that are evergreens from the 
others ; but, wait till the cold, bleak, wolfish winds of winter 
come, and you will see the difference. So in a church when 
all is prosperous, A popular minister fills the pulpit, and 
crowds constantly fill the place of worship ; great numbers are 
from time to time added to their ranks ; the financial affairs of 
the church are easy, and it acquires the name of being the 
leading religious interest in the plase. Ah ! then it is very 
difficult to tell the empty professors from the true believers. 
But let a sifting time come — let the popular preacher leave — 
let divisions and bitter animosities get into their counsels — let 
financial difficulties begin to press upon that tender and sensi- 
tive part of man — the pocket — and soon it will be seen who 
are the mere summer professors. The true Christians then 
come out in all their glory ; standing by the church with a 
warmer affection and a more steadfast zeal, the more her trials 
and troubles increase. " Like a tree planted by rivers of 
water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall 
not wither." The testing time tells which are the evergreens. 

See yonder two houses standing upon the bank of a beauti- 
ful stream. In outward seeming the houses are equally good. 
They have stood there for years, answering all the purposes of 
a comfortable home to their respective ownevs. But a testing 
time comes at last. The stream swells, one dark night, far 
beyond its usual proportions. It overflows its banks, and with 
a wild uproar, its dark, frowning waves beat upon those two 
houses. And hark ! amid the howling of the winds and the 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 687 

furious dashing of the waters, a despairing cry of human voices 
comes from one of the houses. It has begun to shake and 
break up under the pressure of the surging billows, and soon, with 
its miserable inhabitants that trusted in it, it is seen moving 
off upon the bosom of the angry waters, to form 'part of the 
accumulating pile of rubbish that marks their desolating 
course. This house was built upon the sand, and could not 
stand the time of trial ; the other stood firm, for it was founded 
upon a rock. 

To every man, sooner or later, the testing time will come. 
It is right that it should. It is part of our probation. Under 
its sifting power there may be the blasting of many hopes — ■ 
hopes made strong by the culture and indulgence of many 
years ; some who seemed pillars in the house of God, in the 
day of trial may prove to have been rotten pillars^ only covered 
with a little paint and varnish; but God's true people will 
stand unmoved under every trial ; the severest test having no 
more effect upon them than the fluttering of the insects wing 
upon the hard granite rock. "The foundation of God standeth 
sure." We lately saw a bov exhibit, with much pride, what 
he supposed was a silver dollar ; it was bright and beautiful, 
and he spoke with delight of what it would buy. But when 
the testing time came, and he presented it at the counter of 
the store, it was found to be counterfeit. He wept bitterly, 
but all the tears in the world could not change the worthless 
thing into silver. And so the only hope that will pass current 
at heaven's bank, is a hope founded alone in the death and 
righteousness of Jesus. 

My dear reader, when I think of the worth of your soul, 
the tremendous peril to which you are exposed, the powerful 
means you have resisted, and the hardening process in your 
mind that has been going on ; when I see you standing on a 
precipice, drawn downward by the horrid fascination of sin, 
O, how earnestly I long to compel you to come in. But how 
are you to be compelled } Friends can not do it, ministers 
can not do it, churches cannot do it, vast armies, and the pow- 
er of kings could not do it ; it is not a physical compulsion, 



688 THE world's hope. 

but the tender, holy compulsion of love — the love of Christ. 
This has been tried upon you, is being tried now ; O, if it fails, 
all fails ! If this does not draw you m, you must be forever 
left out. 

The test that was applied to this man was confined to one 
single point, namely, the possessing a wedding garment. By 
this we are to understand the garment of Christ's righteous- 
ness. If we are covered with that, all will be well ; if not, we 
shall be covered with confusion. The king did not inves- 
tigate his past life, whether he had been a great sin- 
ner or not, whether he had stood well among his fel- 
low men for his moral deportment, or had been regarded as 
one who had outraged all the decencies of society ; the one 
fault for which he was cast out was not having on a wedding 
garment. This was the test point. 

To understand this better, we should remember that it was 
a Jewish custom, on the occasion of a marriage festival, to 
offer each guest as he entered a suitable garment. They were 
not called upon to provide garments for themselves, for men 
called in off the highways might plead as an excuse that they 
had no opportunities of obtaining a proper garment. Hence 
this man was speechless. He had no excuse to offer. The 
king knew, and he knew himself, and all in the assembly 
knew, that it was entirely his own fault that he appeared as he 
was — that a garment had been offered him and rejected. 

So, it is in the Gospel feast. We are not required to dress 
ourselves, to fit ourselves for appearing before God ; we are 
only required to put on the holy garb of righteousness, that 
has already been provided for us. Hence, if we are found at 
last by the Great King clothed in our own filthy rags, we will 
not have a word of excuse to offer, but must be covered with 
shame and everlasting confusion. How effectually does this 
answer the objection of those who, when pressed to come to 
Christ, say, " I am not good enough yet ! Very true ; and. you 
never will be good enough. And it is for that very reason 
that God has provided a way by which you can come, inde- 
pendent of your goodness. "But," says one, " I am not at 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 689 

all satisfied with myself." I hope you never will be. The 
Bible does not say, " Being satisfied with ourselves, we have 
peace with God," but it does say, "Being justified by faith, we 
have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." It is 
not satisfaction with ourselves, with our faith, or our motives, 
or our works, that is urged upon us, but satisfaction with Christ. 
It is not peace arising from an exalted opinion of myself, but 
from an exalted conception of the fullness that is in Christ. 

Dear reader, if in the. great day of investigation it should 
be found that you have not on the robe of Christ's righteous- 
ness, you will not be able to plead that you had no opportuni- 
ties of obtaining it. You will know, and an assembled world 
will know, and all men and angels will know, that it has again 
and again been offered you, and that you would not accept it. 
The Spirit strove, the Bible urged, ministers preached, friends 
entreated, conscience rebuked, and all in vain ! Ah, poor 
soul ! are you to sink at last in the whirlpool of God's wrath, 
while the life-boat of salvation is near to save you ? When 
the earth reels to and fro, when the heavens are on fire, and 
the stars are falling, in the light of a burning world, you will 
curse your folly and madness in neglecting to array yourself 
in the spotless robe that Christ has provided ! 

Why not come now, even while your eyes are upon this 
page, and cast your sins on Jesus ? He atoned for sins of every 
name and of every dye ; for sins against light and knowledge ; 
sins against law and gospel ; sins of omission and commis- 
sion ; the sins of youth, of middle age, and of hoary years, all 
have been laid upon Jesus. Your sins, that no arithmetic 
could number, that no eloquence could describe — dark and 
black in their moral turpitude as hell itself— the blessed Sa- 
viour has suffered for. Freely and fully you will be par- 
doned. Your guilty fears will all be taken away; your 
calling and election made sure ; y6ur soul, serene and joyful, 
will delight to follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth ; and at 
last, with the blood-washed throng who have been gathered 
from the world's highways, you shall sit down at the marriage 
supper of the Lamb. 



090 THE world's hope. 

It is a very emphatic part of this parable, that this man was 
cast out because he lacked one thing. There was not made 
out against him a long catalogue of sins and imperfections, for 
which he was to be condemned. Had he possessed that 07ie 
things all would have been well. So is it with faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ. " He that believeth not, is condemned already." 
What a watch is without a mainspring, what a ship is without 
a helm or a compass, what a row of cyphers would be without 
a unit before them, is the soul that has no faith in Christ. 
There may be many good things about him, but the one thing 
wanting is a vital thing. Unbelief is the cause of every sin, 
the grand root of all iniquity in the human soul. It is the 
damning sin. That which is filling hell with victims, which is 
robbing souls of happiness here and eternal joys hereafter, is 
the God-dishonoring sin of unbelief. The act of faith secures 
to the soul the garment of Christ's righteousness, and ensures 
its admittance into the heaven of purity and love, where God 
and holy spirits dwell. There, in the language of the poet^ 

" Out of your last home, dark and cold, 
Thou shalt pass to a city whose streets are gold ; 
From the silence that falls upon sin and pain. 
To the deathless joys of the angels' strain, 
Well shall be ended what ill begun , 
Out of the shadow into the sun." 

I would call attention to the deportment of the man de~ 
tected without the wedding garment. He made no excuses ; 
he uttered no remonstrances ; he was speechless. This is very 
solemn and impressive. It is far more awful than if we had 
been told that he uttered a wild shriek of despair! His folly 
and madness causing his tongue to cleave to the roof of his 
mouth, strikes us as something far more awakening than words. 
The wicked rushing about in uncontrollable anguish, and call- 
ing upon the rocks and the hills to fall upon them, does not 
impress us so strongly as this man's speechless anguish. At 
present, sinners have excuses enough to make, and find words 
plenty with which to vindicate themselves to their fellow-men, 
for not becoming Christians. When we urge them, without 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 691 

delay, to accept a Saviour's gracious offers, they tell us of the 
inconsistency of professed Christians, the pressure of their 
worldly cares, the temptations to which they are exposed, the 
strength and impetuosity of their natural passions, the obscu- 
rity of the word of God, and a long list of other excuses. 
But when they shall come to stand before God, and feel that 
his eye is looking them through and through, it will be quite 
different. They will be struck dumb in his presence. 

They will then know that God will not listen to eouuses^ but 
to reasons. And even now the sinner knows that he has no 
reasons to give. But in the light of eternity this will be more 
fully felt : memory bringing up vividly all his past privileges, 
every solemn warning he has received, every sermon to which 
he has listened, every Sabbath when God has come near to 
him in love, every time that the Spirit has striven with him, 
every alarming Providence that has startled him from his indif- 
ference, all vows and promises and resolutions that have been 
broken ; these, with all the events of his life, will be present 
with him, and palsy his tongue into silence. Memory will be 
inconceivably strengthened in eternity. The whole of our 
words, thoughts, actions and privileges will be recalled. Our 
whole past history will be vividly before us. Now, the sinner 
forgets his sins, fast as he commits them ; but there, they will 
come up distinct and awful, in all their aggravations of being 
committed against light and knowledge. Children of pious 
parents will then remember the counsels, the tears and the 
prayers of those dear ones, as they labored for their salvation. 
The seasons of family prayer, the pious books put into their 
hands, the religious meetings to which they were taken, all will 
come up with the vividness of a present reality ; and Oh ! if 
they have all been in vain, how will the memory sting through 
all eternity ! Think of eternity spent in counting over Sab- 
baths lost, privileges abused, parental instructions trampled 
upon, and in hearing again from memory, truths mocked at 
when first heard ! And then, to remember that it is now for- 
ever too late to derive any benefit from these truths ! " Hell 
is truth seen too late ! " 



692 THE world's hope. 

My dear reader, there is but one day in which you can be 
saved, and that is the day of salvation. There is but one way 
in which you can be saved, and that is through faith in Jesus. 
When the huge billows of the flood surged around the globe, 
there was but one ark of safety ; there was but one means of 
deliverance for the people of Israel, when the destroying 
angel passed on his mission of death, at the dark midnight 
hour ; when the fiery serpents scattered death through their 
camp, there was but one brazen serpent lifted up with healing 
power ; but one rock that sent forth refreshing waters ; and on 
the great day of atonement, but one scape-goat to bear away 
the people's sins. In like manner, there is but one name given 
under heaven, or among men, by which we can be saved — even 
the name of Jesus. And there is but one thing a sinner can 
do to be saved ; that is, to believe in that precious Saviour. 

You remember that anxious father that once came to the 
Lord Jesus with a sore burden of grief. About twelve years 
before, God had given him a very precious gift, a little daugh- 
ter ; and every day since, he had learned to prize the gift more 
and more. The house that had so often been made happy by 
her innocent prattle and merry laugh, is now silent and sad; 
for the little maid is dying. The distressed father had heard 
of the wonder-working saviour, and in his deep anguish he 
said, "I will go to him." And Jesus said to him, "Be ye not 
afraid ; only believed As if he had said, " Only trust me, and I 
will attend to all the rest." So it is with you. Jesus has left 
you nothing to do, but simply to trust in his finished work. 
Only believe, and all will be well with your soul forever. Pon- 
der solemnly your position before God. Are you found with 
the garment of Christ's righteousness upon you, or do you 
want that one thing needful } God's best, greatest, most pre- 
cious gift is offered to you ; can you prefer your own filthy rags ? 
In yourself, you can never find any ground of merit on which 
God can receive you into his eternal home. You can never so 
live that the eternally Holy One will pronounce you blameless 
Come, then, and accept that spotless robe of Jesus, in which 
you will be presented faultless before God. Only believe, and 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 693 

trust your eternal safety to Christ. We are told that in a 
public school in New York, the alarm of fire was given. A 
terrible panic ensued; a rush was made for the doors, and one 
of the teachers, a young lady, was much injured by jumping 
from a window. In the midst of the furious panic, one little 
girl sat unmoved ; and when order had been restored, she was 
asked how she could sit so still and be so calm, when all the 
others were in terror. " My father," said she, " is a fireman ; 
and he told me if there was an alarm of fire in the school, I 
must just sit still." This was true faith in a father's word and 
wisdom. She believed, and it gave her sweet peace. 

" Still there is room in the banqueting hall — 
Room at the Gospel-feast, still room for all; 
To the table though millions already have come, 
Still there is room for more — still there is room. 
Then go call the lame, and the halt, and the blind, 
For all things are ready. The table is spread 
With the wine, and the oil, and the heavenly bread. 
The bread and the oil are the choicest, the best; 
And the wine from the fruit of the True Vine is pressed. 
Such dainties no storehouse on earth can afford; 
The storehouse of heaven has furnished the board, 
Nor will it be drawn while a guest you can find 
'Mong the outcast, the hungry, the lame and the blind. 
To the streets, then, and lanes of the city repair. 
To the dismal retreats of crime, vice, and despair; 
Go to the highways and byways of sin, 
And the wretched and houseless compel to come in." 

Notwithstanding all the bluster of infidelity in the present 

day, I do not think that our chief danger arises from that 

source. Man is a being to whom worship of some kind is 

■ natural ; he will have a religion of some kind, and the great 

tendency of the present day is to a religion of mere form. 

We can form but little conception of the struggle which an 
intelligent Jew, one like Paul, for example, had to go through, 
when he gave up the splendid forms and ritualistic pomps of 
Judaism for the severe simplicity of gospel truth. There were 
the crowds of priests, the smoking sacrifices, the ornaments of 
the temple all ablaze with gold, the high antiquity and divine 



694 



THE WORLD S HOPE. 



origin of all that met the eye, the fire still burning in the tem- 
ple that had not been extinguished for fifteen hundred years, 
with all that impressed the imagination, and fired the patriot- 
ism of a devout descendant of Abraham. 

If one would know something of the power of these things, 
let him enter some of those splendid cathedrals of Europe, 
where everything .appeals to the senses. The lofty arched 
roof, the massive pillars, the highly ornamented windows, the 
white-robed officials, the chants, and the mighty swell of the 
organ, that seems to shake the old wall, gray with the lapse of 
ages ; all exert an overpowering influence upon the feelings 
and the imagination. 

The glory of the gospel is not such as appeals to the senses ; 
it is the whisper of Divine love in the soul. It comes with a 
mighty power, for it is the power of God ; but it glares not 
upon the eye or the ear of the multitude — " comes not 
by observation," but does what nothing else can, — saves the 
soul. The holy, spiritual, awakening thought that comes to 
the sinner — he scarcely knows how — produces a greater revo- 
lution, than those that convulse nations and overthrow dynas- 
ties, because it saves his deathless soul. 

It is the gospel of love ; it fills the heart to which enmity 
was natural, brim-full of love, and love is never ostentatious. 
When the mother watches by the cot of her dying babe, night 
after night, she does not proclaim her great sacrifices to the 
world, but loves to be alone with her God, and her heavy sor- 
row. In our Lord's days ritualism abounded, and professors 
of religion could not fast, nor pray, nor give alms, without 
letting all Jerusalem know what wonderfully good people they 
were. Our Lord had for the vilest transgressors that came to 
him in penitence, nothing but the tenderest words and the 
most loving promises ; but for these hypocrites he had terrible 
threatenings and righteous denunciations, that fell among 
them like thunder-bolts. 

The Gospel teaches to go forth doing good every day, 
because the loving heart supplies the constraining motive. It 
leads us to do good because we are God's children, not 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. 695 

because we wish to be thought so. It is the very nature 
of the good tree to bear fruit, but the chief source whence its 
strength and fruitfulness comes is out of sight. 

The Gospel is expansive and progressive in the human soul. 
The religion of rites, and forms, and ceremonies does not 
grow with our growth. It is not brighter and brighter to the 
perfect day. It goes on, age after age, depending upon the 
same performances. No matter what the circumstances, it 
goes on droning out its vain repetitions. The gospel has 
milk for babes, and strong meat for men. Sweet, gentle truths 
to woo the young; massive, strong doctrines for the most 
gifted intellects ; and promises great and precious, for tottering 
old age. 

The religion of ritualism is a strong device of Satan to sat- 
isfy the human soul with a sham. It says God does not look at 
the heart, but is verv solicitous about the outward appearance. 
It seeks to satisfy the soul that begins to feel its dreadful loss 
in departing from God, with the jingle and the rattle of a few 
childish toys. It seeks to represent God himself as well 
pleased with empty parade and gaudy trappings. It is the 
religion of human nature in its deepest depravity, and sends 
souls into eternity in teeming crowds, with lies not only in 
their right hands, but enveloping them like a garment. 

The soul enlightened from on high, convicted of sin by the 
Holy Spirit, will not long be held by a religion of form. You 
may please a hungry child with toys for a little, but as the 
hunger grows more clamorous and imperative, nothing but 
substantial bread will do. So none but Jesus can do helpless 
sinners good. He is the bread of life, and nothing but a per- 
sonal reception of him, by faith, can satisfy the hunger of the 
soul. It is a real feast, not a mere picture of one, to which he 
invites us. To hunger and thirst after righteousness, is the 
sure forerunner of that blessed state, where we are filled with 
the fulness of God, and where we shall awake in His like- 
ness. 

Much of the blessings of Christianity lie in the future, for 
" it doth not yet appear what we shall be ;" but real and imper- 



696 THE world's hope. 

ishable blessings are now in the Christian's possession. He is 
now God's Son, and prayer is speaking to his Father ; repent- 
ance is returning to his Father ; faith is resting on the love of 
his Father ; and when he looks up to those heavens that seem 
to roof in our earth, and sees the myriads of stars that gleam 
in the darkness of night, his soul is thrilled with the thought 
of the vastness of his Father's possessions. 

One who rejoices in God in this relation, longs to bring all 
wanderers back to their Father. The heart touched by God's 
love, loves others ; just as the iron that has felt the power of 
the magnet, becomes itself magnetic. 

We see this in the Apostle John. Love was the very soul 
of his religion, the element in which he lived, the glory of his 
teaching and the charm of his society. We have heard of the 
sculptor, who seeing a rough, unhewn block of marble ex- 
claimed, " What a glorious statue dost thou conceal !" So the 
Christian looks upon the lowest, most degraded of human be- 
ings, and sees one capable of being made a child of God, an 
heir of heaven, a companion of angels. He knows that the 
roughest block of humanity can, by the Holy Spirit, be made 
into the likeness of Christ ; and for this he prays and labors. 

The Apostle, while rejoicing in his present privileges, looked 
forward to something greater. A rich man may adopt into 
his family a poor beggar boy picked up. off the streets. He 
may have him washed, and dressed, and educated, and may 
permit him to call him father, and leave him all his property ; 
but there is one thing he cannot do, he cannot give him his 
nature, he cannot impart to him his own likeness. But when 
God adopts us into his family through Jesus, he makes ns par- 
takers of his own nature, and impresses us with his image. 
Men take notice that we have been with Jesus. The spirit 
and the temper of the Holy One shines out, somewhat imper- 
fectly no doubt, but still so as to show the Divine relationship 
that has been formed. 

That which will so greatly. add to the bliss of heaven is, 
that this likeness will be perfect. No sinful passion shall ever 
again fill the soul with sorrows and remorse. We shall do 



THE GOSPEL FEAST. ' 697 

good without sin being present with us, and the song of grateful 
love shall gush forth uninterrupted by a single improper thought 
or feeling. Oh, blessed hope ! The hope of being like Jesus ! 
How it should ennoble our lives now ! We should seek to be of 
one mind with God, hating what he hates, loving what he loves, 
judging of things by his standard, to be meek, loving, gentle and 
unselfish, as was the blessed Saviour. We should stand up bold 
and unflinching witnesses, as he was, and stooping to any work, 
however lowly, that he may do good to others. Think of being 
like Jesus and with Jesus forever. We have known many happy 
moments with Jesus and his people on earth, but they do not last. 
Sin comes like a great pall of darkness, and separates between 
God and us. But yonder eternity will be the crown of our glory. 
If we could look forward millions of ages and yet see an end to 
our enjoyment, it would cast a damp upon our bliss, a dark shadow 
over our brightness. But forever with the Lord, and forever like 
the Lord. Oh, what wondrous love is this ? To live as long as 
God lives, and with his mighty love overflowing in our hearts, 
and all for nothing, all of grace, free grace ; surely if we can resist 
all this, and give up our powers to the love of the world, we can 
expect nothing but to hear, when we enter eternity, that terrible 
blast of condemnation, " Depart, ye cursed ! " 

A man who had been bom blind had his eyes operated upon by 
a skillful oculist, so that he could gradually see objects around 
him. For the first time he looked upon the faces of his wife and 
children, his own face beaming with love. At last he exclaimed, 
" Oh, why have I seen these first before enquiring for him whose 
skill opened my eyes ; show me the doctor / " Thus the redeemed 
shall wish first to see Jesus. 



One of the most solemn, most searching, and most humbling 
questions is that from the lips of our Lord, " Lovest thou me? " 
It is a deep disgrace to us, a burning shame, that, after all he has 
done for us, he should still have to ask such a question. No 
wonder that amid our base ingratitude he causes the awful words 



698 THE WORLD'S HOPE. 

to roll over our heads like a peal of thunder : *' If any man love 
not the Lc rd Jesus, let him be accursed." 

Christ's love, as revealed on the Cross, when believed on with 
the whole heart, is the only power that can sweep the world of 
its impurities. Wherever it is faithfully preached, it changes the 
whole aspect of society. Savages hear of it and it lifts them to 
the dignity of God's children. Idolaters hear of it, and their idol 
temples are deserted. It humbles the proud, and elevates the 
humble. It teaches citizens their rights and obligations, and rulers 
their solemn responsibiUties. It emboldens the timid, and ren- 
ders invincible the brave. It smooths the wrinkles on the brow 
of care, binds up the broken heart, and dispels despair as it sits 
brooding over the desolations of the grave. It transforms the 
slave of passion and sin into Christ's freeman. 

The doctrine of Christ crucified penetrates into the haunts of 
vice in our cities, where misery in its most hideous forms appals 
the heart of the beholder ; and instantly there is a great change. 
It goes into the cell of the criminal whose soul is stained with 
crimes which no heart, undebased by deepest villainy, could even 
conceive of, and it melts his hard heart into tender contrition. 
Amid the roar of battle it comes to the dying soldier, giving him 
a peace that is unspeakable and full of glory. It comes to the 
sailor amid the shriek of the midnight tempest, when his proud 
ship is cast a naked hulk on the boundless deep, or when the rocks 
are strewr with the fragments of her perishing strength, and 
enables him to cast the anchor of his hope within the vail. In 
short, it comes to every human heart that will receive it, and im- 
parts a confidence that can never be shaken, world without end. 

A lady when dying heard some of her friends say in a whisper, 
" She is sinking fast," when she opened her eyes and said, " How 
can I sink through a rock!" She felt that she was resting on 
The Rock of Ages. All who are not on that rock are on the 
shifting sand, which the storms of judgment will sweep from 
under them. Reader, many voices unite to urge you to come to 
Christ. The eternal Father says, " This is my beloved Son, hear 
ye Him," The Holy Spirit urges you to Christ, on the peril of 




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THE GOSPEL FEAST. 699 

your precious soul. Conscience lifts up its awful voice and calls 
you to flee from the wrath to come. The voices of loving ones, 
who have often prayed for you on earth, in tender memories 
from the eternity into which they have gone, urge you to come 
to the Saviour they love. A great cloud of witnesses encompass 
you around, and by the most tremendous motives urge you to a 
happy decision ; and I now entreat you to come at once to our 
adorable Redeemer — the World's Hope. 



3FNEDICTI0N. 





BENEDICTION. 

Let us then join in the chorus of the heavenly throng: 
"Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessings." 

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead 
our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every 
good work to do His will, working in you that which is well- 
pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ ; to whom be glory 
lor ever and ever." 









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